Analyse the extent to which Situation Ethics makes a Valuable Contribution to Ethical Theory (20 marks)

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Created on: 09-03-23 21:13


	Analyse the extent to which Situation Ethics makes a Valuable Contribution to Ethical Theory (20 marks)
	Advantages It attempts to draw together the positive elements of legalistic and antinomian ethics, and leave behind the negative elements, so as to create a better ethical theory It attempts to offer a Christian Ethics that suits a society with a changing view of morality, so agrees with many of the prominent ethical views of today, meaning it is more readily accepted as a Christian Ethic in a secular society than Natural Law	Disadvantages It could be argued that it is simply a Christian adaptation of Utilitarianism Due to the subjectivity of what is considered agape love, it is essentially antinomian, as the concept of love being "the only ruling norm" has no real meaning Proportionalism can be seen to have made the necessary improvements to both Natural Law and Situation Ethics, meaning [Situation Ethics] is no longer valuable
	Evaluation While Situation Ethics certainly offers a new perspective on morality and takes care to highlight the fact that every circumstance is different, one which is perhaps overlooked by more legalistic theories, proportionalism makes much less radical attempts to depart from complete legalism and can, in my opinion, hold on to the claim to be a Christian Ethic a lot more tightly. Furthermore, its adaptability to modern society seems to indicate that it lacks the necessary principality to be a strong ethical theory, as if its aim is to serve the change in societal values rather than to uphold those values which it posits to be good, it can hardly be used to keep a society organised and, thus, can be considered as less valuable.

Analyse the extent to which Situation Ethics makes a Valuable Contribution to Ethical Theory (20 marks)

Advantages

It attempts to draw together the positive elements of legalistic and antinomian ethics, and leave behind the negative elements, so as to create a better ethical theory
It attempts to offer a Christian Ethics that suits a society with a changing view of morality, so agrees with many of the prominent ethical views of today, meaning it is more readily accepted as a Christian Ethic in a secular society than Natural Law

Disadvantages

It could be argued that it is simply a Christian adaptation of Utilitarianism
Due to the subjectivity of what is considered agape love, it is essentially antinomian, as the concept of love being "the only ruling norm" has no real meaning
Proportionalism can be seen to have made the necessary improvements to both Natural Law and Situation Ethics, meaning [Situation Ethics] is no longer valuable

Evaluation

While Situation Ethics certainly offers a new perspective on morality and takes care to highlight the fact that every circumstance is different, one which is perhaps overlooked by more legalistic theories, proportionalism makes much less radical attempts to depart from complete legalism and can, in my opinion, hold on to the claim to be a Christian Ethic a lot more tightly. Furthermore, its adaptability to modern society seems to indicate that it lacks the necessary principality to be a strong ethical theory, as if its aim is to serve the change in societal values rather than to uphold those values which it posits to be good, it can hardly be used to keep a society organised and, thus, can be considered as less valuable.

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Analyse the extent to which Situation Ethics makes a Valuable Contribution to Ethical Theory (20 marks)