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Situation ethics - Coggle Diagram
Situation ethics
Six propositions
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Love wants the good for anyone, whoever they are
Love is the end, so it justifies the means
Love's decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively
Strengths
Provides a clear framework which helps to understand what is meant by agape when making moral decisions
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Gives opportunity to be flexible in decision making, rather than just applying rules
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Weaknesses
We can never be sure of an outcome, so we can't make decisions based on this (Kant)
Rules would lead to a more accurate decision making process, making it faster
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Scholars
Charlotte and Peter Vardy argue that Situation Ethics 'confuses the concept of agape' described in the Bible as Fletcher downplays the importance of 'loving God' in the application of agape
Also argue that is doesn't provide clear guidance as it could allow individuals to claim that they did the right thing to justify doing what they feel inclined to do
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Agape
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Agape is an attitude, not a feeling, one which does not expect anything in return
'Christian love does not ask us to lose or abandon our sense of good and evil - it simply insists that however we rate them, and whether we like them or not, they are our neighbours and are to be loved' - Fletcher
Fletcher’s idea of agape is influenced by the New Testament which valorises love as a core Christian principle
Jesus' teachings are based on the supremacy of love, edifying that if love is at the core of our actions, then we are being true to the teachings of Christ
Scholars
Bonhoeffer - 'The will of God in any situation is based on the needs of one's neighbour and the model of Jesus'
Archbishop William Temple - 'There is only one ultimate and enviable duty and its formula is to 'love your neighbour as you love yourself, how to do this is another questions, but his is the whole of moral duty'
Barth - 'God's commanding action' is not rules to be followed legalistically, but rather applied to situations relatively (in some cases, it would permit morally 'wrong' actions, like allowing abortion
Strengths
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Supported by scholars (Barth, Bonhoeffer, Temple)
Weaknesses
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It could justify immoral actions, like murder
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Four working principles
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Positivism - love is a positive choice, so if this is considered before making a decision, the decision is right
Personalism - to maximise love, the person in the situation needs to be considered
Pragmatism - for actions to be right, they must be practical
Strengths
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Personalism ensures that people are put first before laws, meaning that it is based on human needs
Provides a clear understanding of how situationists can maximise agape and justify their actions in ethical ambiguity
Weaknesses
Encourages the dismissal of Biblical law, acting as a problem for Christians
Principles are vague, leading to subjective decision making
Conscience
In order to be able to make decisions in this relative manner, and still be morally good from a religious perspective, Fletcher had an alternate view on the conscience
The conscience plays a role in working out what to do when faced with moral uncertainty, so it is a verb and not a noun
Describes what people do when they are trying to make moral decisions creatively and weighing things up
Strengths
The conscience is something that is used widely in society, taking into account a situation rather than blindly applying the rules
Avoids ethical idolatry as it upholds personal autonomy as the individual can choose what to do in a morally ambiguous situation
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Fletcher's examples
Sacrificial adultery
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The only way for her to get home was if she was pregnant, as she would be returned as a liability
She asked a guard to impregnate her, and she was able to be sent home
Fletcher would argue that this was the right thing to do as it led to a good outcome of returning to her family
Sacrificial suicide
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He could take some pills that his insurance would cover for the next 3 years or he would die in the next 3 months
He thought that if he didn't take the pills, then his family would be left with some security
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Patriotic prostitution
There was a war going on that her government believed could be stopped by some clever use of spying and blackmail
However, this meant that she had to seduce and sleep with an enemy spy in order to lure him into blackmail
In this situation, Fletcher would argue that the right thing to do is to do it as the end result would be ending a war
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