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Situation Ethics - Coggle Diagram
Situation Ethics
Six propositions
Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love: nothing else at all
Everything else has conditional value (depending on whether it helps/hurts people), but love is always unconditional, so it is intrinsically good
The ruling norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else
Jesus replaced the Torah with the principle of love; Fletcher argued that the commandments are not absolute (Jesus broke them when love demanded it
Love should be the "norm"
Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed: nothing else
Love and justice cannot be separated. Love takes everything into account, it is not partial. it is "calculating its duties, obligations, opportunities, resources"
Love wills the neighbour's good, whether we like him or not
Matter of attitude, not feeling. It is a desire to do good for all people. It is unconditional and requires nothing in return, and to love including the unlikeable
Only the end justifies the means; nothing else
Actions should consider the consequences. If the consequence of an action is the most loving possible, then it is good (doesn't matter what the action is). The end of maxmising agape justifies the means we used to produce it
Love's decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively
When we are faced with a moral choice, we have to decide there and then in that situation what the right thing to do is
Strengths
Provides a clear framework which helps to understand what is meant by agape when making moral decisions
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Weaknesses
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Problem with prediction, we cannot be sure on the outcome
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Agape
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Self-sacrificing, embodied in the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so those who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)
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"love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength"
Strengths
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Only one principle, so easy to follow
Non legalistic, stops "unthinking obedience"
Weaknesses
Most loving thing can sometimes be vague, not everyone agrees
It could justify "immoral" acts, e.g. murder
Four working principles
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Positivism – first place is given to Christian love, rooted in faith, not reason.
Religious knowledge can be approached in 2 ways:
- Natural positivism - reason deduces faith from human experience and natural phenomena
- Theological positivism - faith statements are made and people act in a reasonable way in consideration of those statements; reason works with faith to strengthen it
Personalism – people come first, not rules or ideals.
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"Obligation is to persons, not to things; to subjects, not objects"
"Love is of people, by people and for people. Things are to be used; people are to be loved"
Jesus said "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath so Jesus knew rules could be broken if it was for the good of humanity to do so
Strengths
Provides a clear understanding of how situationists can maximise agape and justify their actions in ethical ambiguity
Personalism ensures that people are put before laws, means that it is based on human needs
Weaknesses
Encourages the dismissal of the Biblical law, Christians will find this a problem
The principles are vague, leading to subjective decision making
General
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The "Middle way"
Legalistic ethics
Traditional Christian approach (Jewish law Halakah), based on strict rules that have to always be followed
10 commandments:
- Only worship one God
- Do not make or worship false idols
- Do not take the name of God in vain
- Keep the Sabbath day holy
- Honour your mother and father
- Do not kill
- Do not commit adultery
- Do not steal
- DO not give false testimony against your neighbour (lie)
- Do not be envious of others' belongings
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Conscience
Fletcher believed that conscience was what enabled us to figure out the requirements of agape in the situation
Fletcher believed that conscience is a verb, not a noun, refers to an action and used within the process of deciding what to do (part of our thoughtful decision making)
Conscience describes what people do when they are trying to make moral decisions and weighing things up
Strengths
Conscience is something that is used widely in society, taking into account a situation rather than merely applying rules
Promotes individual autonomy, as they can choose what to do in a morally ambiguous situation
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Criticising scholars
William Barclay
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Strengths
True that if humanity had the freedom and power, they won't choose the loving thing, they would choose the selfish or cruel thing (power corrupts)
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Weaknesses
But legalism has worse downsides, which is inflexible and outdated
Direction of history involces people becoming more educated and civilised so it makes sense for Fletcher to develop a morality which reflects that people can be trusted with more freedom
Martin Luther
"Sola scriptura" argues that the "Bible alone" is the source of moral authority, not the autonomous individual deciding the demands of agape in their situation
Fletcher has diluted Christian ethics into just loving and wanting the best for others. Fletcher's theory is not properly Christian
Weaknesses: Craig
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Impossible to figure out what exactly the Bible mean, so we shouldn't view it as the perfect word of God, but only as guidelines
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C. Hitchens
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e.g. two nazi might say to each other that they hope the other would kill them if they were Jewish, because they would rather be dead than be Jewish so that is genuinely what they view as loving themselves.
In this case, loving your neighbour as yourself would involve killing your neighbour if they were Jewish (still the most loving thing to do)
Weaknesses
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Agape is not treating your neighbour as you would like to be treated, it is loving your neighbour as you love yourself.
Above example might have treated others as they would want to be treated, but they didn't love others as they loved themselves. Perhaps because they didn't love themselves at all.
Strengths
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Shows that Fletcher has diluted Christian ethics into just doing what a person subjectively perceive to be loving, potentially sliding into antinomianism
Catholics
Ethical absolutes e.g. sanctity of life, no matter what the pragmatic situation is, the value of life cannot be relativised, suggesting that Fletcher's working principles of pragmatism and relativism are wrong
"The greatest destroyer of peace today is [abortion]. If a mother can kill her own child in her womb, what is left for you and me to kill each other?" - Mother Teresa
Weaknesses
Northern Europe has some atheist countries where quality of life is acted on instead of sanctity of life. Those countries are nonetheless stable and happy in the world
Strict ethical principles e.g. sanctity of life is a requirement for social order, so Fletcher's situationism doesn't lead to antinomianism
Strengths
Successful because it is logical that if a culture devalues life, it could threaten social stability
God designed us to live in a certain way which involves preserving life. If we go against that then our society will break down because living contrary to God's design is unnatural and leads to immorality and social disorder
Focusing on individual autonomy at the expense of social norms is bad for society which needs clear and fixed rules, Fletcher's overly individualistic situationism leads to antinomianism
Supporting scholars
Robinson
Argue that humanity has "come of age" (more mature). Now that people are more civilised and educated, granting them more autonomy will increase love without risking the stability of society