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SITUATION ETHICS - Coggle Diagram
SITUATION ETHICS
6 FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
- this is the heart of fletchers theory
- 1) LOVE ONLY IS ALWAYS GOOD: nothing else has intrinsic value
- 2) LOVE IS THE ONLY NORM: if love requires it, any and even law can be broken (even 10 commandments)
- 3) LOVE & JUSTICE ARE THE SAME: can be no love without justice
- 4) LOVE IS NOT LIKING: its a selfless act that doesnt seek to get anything back in return
- 5) LOVE JUSTIFIES ITS MEANS: The end must be the most loving thing
- 6) LOVE'S DECISIONS MADE ACCORDING TO THE SITUATION AND NOT ACCORDING TO THE RULES
4 WORKING PRINCIPLES
- Fletcher came up with them to help people understand how situation ethics works
- they are frameworks for the use of agape in situations
- 1) PRAGMATISM: assessing whether something works in achieving the final telos- agape
- 2) RELATIVISM: assessing whats most loving in each situation
- 3) POSITIVISM: love is the mist important thing when making a decision
- 4) PERSONALISM: Fletchers situationism is people-centred, so the needs of people take priority over rules
FLETCHER
- claimed there were 3 main approaches to moral decision making:
- legalism
- antinomianism
- situationism
- he rejects legalism on the basis its too inflexible
- he reacts antinomianism on the basis it ignores Jesus' law of love
- he views situationism as the middle way between them
- its based on agape (christian unconditional love)
- You must consider agape in all decision making
- a moral decision is correct if its the most loving thing to do
- "the morality of an action depends on the situation"
CONSCIENCE
- Fletcher rejected all traditional approaches to conscience, such a intuition, or feelings of shame
He considered conscience is something we do, not something we have
- its a form of guidance before a decision is made