Situation ethics
Context of Fletcher
Rejected legalism as it led to 'unthinking obedience' and creates a form of 'ethical idolatry'
'Headaches and heartbreaks of life'
Rejected antinomianism (no laws) as it led to anarchy
Teleological approach as it looks at the end result
Situational approach provided the best middle path between legalism and antinomianism.
Agape
Influenced by Christian theology and understood as unconditional and sacrificial love
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
Not legalistic so it stops 'unthinking obedience'
Rooted in Christianity
Only 1 principle so easy to follow
Can tackle modern scenarios so useful to society
Applicable as everyone would regard love as 'good'
Supported by scholars (Barth, Bonhoeffer, Temple)
Weaknesses
Too vague as we cannot agree on the most loving thing
It can cause anomie due to the lack of clear rules
It could justify immoral actions, like murder
The New Testament is outdated
Fletcher's examples
Sacrificial adultery
Sacrificial suicide
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
A woman was captured and put in a camp in Ukraine
Her husband and children were in Germany
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
A patient in a hospital had a set time to live
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
Fletcher would argue that the right thing to do is to not take the pills
Six propositions
Love is the only absolute
Love is the ruling norm
Love is justice distributed
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
Prevents subjectivity by giving detailed points to follow
Gives opportunity to be flexible in decision making, rather than just applying rules
Gives individuals autonomy when making moral decisions
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
Places too much responsibility on individual to make a choice
Ignores other Biblical principles (10 commandments)
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
A 'lack of clear guidance' as it could allow individuals to claim that they did the right thing to 'justify doing what people feel inclined to do rather than what is right' - baser motives
The six propositions help us understand agape and allow us to ensure that it drives our intention
Four working principles
The four working principles can be used to justify our actions in the aim of bringing agape love.
Relativism - there's one rule (agape) but it must be applied relatively
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
Universal to place love at the centre of decisions
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
It is flexible to use
Weaknesses
It strays away from the idea of universal morals
Depends too much on human morality and decision making
Societies will struggle with a fixed set of laws to apply to situations
Evaluation of Situation Ethics
Strengths
Limitations
Avoids ethical idolatry, upholds personal autonomy
Replaces legalism with principled relativism
Has roots within Christianity as was modelled by Jesus
Barth - agrees with acting situationally, and application of agape seems symmetrical to God's will
Temple - ethics are to be personal and love centred
Robinson - ‘An ethic for humanity come of age’ – applicable to modern society
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
One of the ways to love God is to obey his
commandments.
Fletcher makes it too simple in the propositions by suggesting that it can just be showing love to your neighbour
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
Barclay argues that Situation Ethics fails to 'save us from the difficult and dangerous task of making our own judgements and deciding things for ourselves'
By not providing any laws or principles to follow, we have to make important moral decisions ourselves, expecting an unrealistic level of morality for us
'If all men were saints, situation ethics would be the perfect ethics' - only Jesus can display pure agape love, not normal humans
Situation ethics is described by Fletcher as 'principled relativism'
Renders us with one absolute principle to which all conduct is relative - agape love
Making decisions based on the situation using only agape love
Expects an unrealistic level of morality - 'if all men were saints, then situation ethics would be the perfect ethics'
However it is possible and Barclay takes a pessimistic view, as Jesus has modelled this behaviour to humans and instructed them to do the same eg. Good Samaritan
However, 'love is justice distributed' means that actions based on agape will always lead to the right thing
Religious - 'Sabbath was made for the man, not man for the Sabbath' - personalism
However, acceptance of agape is the acceptance of God - God was loving and sacrificed his only son to save humanity, so agape is still religious
Fletcher himself rejected Christianity but still believed in Situation ethics - no Situation ethics / agape is not really religious and can be applied to secular society