Situation Ethics: Advantages and Disadvantages

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Situation Ethics: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

  • It us relativist, so allows for consideration of an individual's personal circumstances when making moral decisions.
  • It does not have the problem of being an outdated ethics as society moves on, because it is flexible.
  • It could be considered quick and easy as a method of decision-making because  instead of considering a range of duties, principles and outcomes, it simply recommends with agapeic love.
  • It allows people autonomy by giving them the responsibility of choosing their own actions without having to obey the rules of others.
  • It could be considered to fit well with a person's Christian faith and with the 'what would Jesus do' kind of approach to moral decision-making.

Disadvantages

  • It is relativist, so does not give clear rules to help people know what to do in all circumstances.
  • It is relativist and so could be seen to allow people to justify any action they want to do, on the grounds that they thought it would bring about the most loving outcome. No action is ruled out as absolutely immoral and there are no moral rules that cannot be broken.
  • It can be difficult to apply because it is not always clear what is the most loving thing to do in a situation, just as it does not always clear what Jesus would do.
  • It is also not always clear how to work out which people should be considered in the efforts to find a loving action, or what to do if an action would be loving for one person but at the same time the opposite of loving for another.

Evaluation

Consequentialist: moral judgements should be based on the outcome or the consequences.Teleological ethics: moral goodness is determined by the end results.Teleological: concerned with the end purpose or goal of a situation.Agape love: unconditional love.

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