Situation ethics
- Created by: audreyhorne123
- Created on: 15-01-20 14:20
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- Situation ethics
- Joseph Fletcher
- 60s- 'Situation Ethics: A New Morality'
- Thought that Christian moral-decision making needed to change its approach
- Traditional political, social and religious authorities were being subjected to challenge
- Severe decline in Church attendance
- Seen in the UK in a number of major liberalising laws eg. abortion and homosexuals
- Traditional theories weren't flexible enough for new medical practices and views on homosexuals
- Increasingly impersonal nature of society created a need for an ethics that emphasises the individual
- Pressures of modern life led to the need for a pragmatic approach- one that works in every situation
- Traditional political, social and religious authorities were being subjected to challenge
- Rejected approaches to ethics
- Legalism
- Fletcher rejected legalism on the basis that it's often too inflexible
- Two traditional forms of Christian based morality
- Natural moral law- which is reason based
- Divine command theory- which is Bible based
- Antinomianism
- Each situation is totally unique
- Some Christians claim they know what is right and wrong from the guidance of the Holy Spirit
- Secular existentialism-individuals make their own morality through their responses to challenges in life
- Legalism
- Situationism
- Middle way between legalism and antinomianism
- Antinomianism
- Each situation is totally unique
- Some Christians claim they know what is right and wrong from the guidance of the Holy Spirit
- Secular existentialism-individuals make their own morality through their responses to challenges in life
- Antinomianism
- Altruistic= purpose not passion
- Based on reason, rejects any inbuilt law
- Based on agape
- Bible is the source of the only absolute principle- love your neighbour as yourself
- Agreed with Antinomians in some areas
- Apart from agape, there are no universal moral rules
- Church's wisdom is useful but not binding
- The individual must work out whether or not following the Church is the most loving thing
- Conscience
- Fletcher rejected traditional approaches eg intuition or guilt
- The conscience is something we do, not something we have- form of guidance
- Middle way between legalism and antinomianism
- 4 presumptions
- Pragmatism: assessing what is most loving in each situation
- Contextual relativism: assessing what is the most loving thing in each situation
- Positivism: the basis of situation ethics in agape requires a leap of faith as it stems from the belief that God is love
- Personalism: people-centred, so the needs of people take priority over rules
- 6 working principles
- Love only is always good
- Love is the only norm
- Love and justice are the same
- Love must be calculated: it adopts a utilitarian approach using the agapeic calculus
- Love is not liking
- Love justifies the means
- Love's decisions are made according to the situation and not according to the rules
- Joseph Fletcher
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