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Situation Ethics - Coggle Diagram
Situation Ethics
six propositions
only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love; nothing else at all
- some things are extrinsically good - they are good because they serve some end
- e.g. walking is good because we aim to be healthy
- other things are good in themselves, they are instrinsically good
- only love is truly good in itself
the ruling norm of christian decision is love, nothing else
- in the NT jesus consistently replaces the OT laws with the principle of love
- e.g. by healing someone on the Sabbath
- where law and love conflict we mus tfollow love
- fletcher reminds us that jesus summed up the whole of jewish law as 'love god' and 'love your neighbour'
love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else
- justice and love are not opposites or in tension as is often thought
- justice is christian love being applied rationally and in a calculated manner
- fletcher suggests that this is not a sentimental love but is the calculation made by businessmen, generals or doctors in deciding who benefits most
only the end justifies the means, nothing else
- fletcher is not suggesting that any end is justified by any means but that any loving end is justified by any means
- it is whether the end is worthwhile that determines whether the action is worthwhile
- fletcher uses the example of the second world war resistance fighters who routinely lied and even killed members of their own side because of the importance of their cause
love wills the neighbour goof whether we like him or not
- love is an attitude not a feeling - we are dealing with agape not eros
- agape love is selfless and is not necessarily reciprocal
- it does not necessarily require anything in return - it is not sentimental
- the neighbour can be anyone we come across
- fletcher notes that jesus' command to love even extends to loving our enemies
loves decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively
- love is the norm but it doesnt tell us what to do in specific situations
- we have to gather the facts rather than decide the case before we know the facts
- one particular issue is sexual ethics where he argues that christianity has become overly obsessed with rules at the expense of deciding on a situational basis
- fletcher does not answer the question as to whether adultery is wrong, he replies 'give me a real case'
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Fletcher and agape
agape = unconditional love - greek word used n the new testament by jesus when he summarises the commandments as the duty to love god and to love ones neighbours
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legalism - the idea that ethical decision making is by a system of laws
antinomianism - literally meaning to have no laws at all
situationism attempts to make a middle way between what he sees as two main errors in ethical thinking - lagalism and antinomianism
four working principles
pragmatism
- the question 'what will work?' is more important than the question 'what is true?'
- fletcher doesnt want theoretical solutions
- he requires that a solution works in practice
relativism
- love is the absolute, everything is relative to it
- hence he method of situation ethics involves relativism
- although love is the why of our action the how is contingent and changes
- fletcher argues that the situationist avoids words like never and perfect etc as he avoids the plague as he avoids 'absolutely'
positivism
- we cannot look at the world and discover moral laws as natural law thinks
- values are decided by starting with faith in god and positively reasoning what this might mean in each situation
- we create the good rather than discovering it
- we decide our values by looking at the situation
personalism
- people are the ultimate moral value
- ethics is about human relations yet the legalist is only concerned with laws and rules
- situation ethics says that everything is related to the good of persons
- 'love is of people by people and for people. things are to be used people are to be loved'
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as a relgious theory
for
when jesus is asked to sum up the whole of the jewish law he suggests that only two commands are needed - 'love god' and 'love your neighbour as yourself'
in the NT jesus is frequently seen yo oppose the legalism of the pharisees of his day - he gives moral principles not hard and fast rules
jesus argues that love is the primary evidence of the genuineness of religious faith - 'by this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another'
against
it is argued the fletchers reading of the words of jesus is highly selective - he condemns divorce and adultery quite clearly and references hell more than heaven
jesus tells his disciples that if the love him they are to obey his commandments - that implies that there are commandments other than love
the interpretation of agape as an unconditional wishing of the best for our neighbour is not explicitly christian - in reality there is little differnece between situation ethics and act utilitarianism
conscience
argues that conscience is an active process - its a verb not a noun
when we are making moral decisions we are using the function, conscience
it is not a thing that we carry with us nor a part of our mind nor a voice within
it is only conscience when we are in a sense consciencing or deciding
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