Situation Ethics Revision
- Created by: MattyLew
- Created on: 16-12-16 12:32
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- SITUATION
ETHICS
- CONTEXT
- Joseph Fletcher
- felt Christianity should focus less on conformity + control and focus on agape
- "an ethic for humanity come of age" felt that humans were mature enough to make their own autonomous decisions due to the 60's revolution and social/politcal/cultural shift
- 1960'S - gravitation away from the Church
- SOCIAL CLIMATE: 1) more women in the workplace, contraception - the pill meant women could choose when to have children, more women going to Uni 2) CIvil Rights - everyone should be treated the same - change in social power
- 3)Emergence of the teenager - new label - younger people (post-war gen) began to fight against society's constraints and norms, people became more autonomous - broke family boundaries and religious ideals, chose their own futures
- POLITICAL CLIMATE: 1) the USA's involvement led to people's distrust of the government (particularly younger gen's) - disenchantment of patriotic obedience - anti-war movement - people started questioning authoritative powers (Church, Politically) 2)Fight for civil rights (e.g. Martin Luther King)
- CULTURAL CLIMATE: 1) 'make love not war' hippie movement, disenchantment with authority and Vietnam war 2) emergence of the teenager, new group able to express themselves in a new freedom 3) freely available contracetion = freedom to exress new individualism in non-marital sex
- SOCIAL CLIMATE: 1) more women in the workplace, contraception - the pill meant women could choose when to have children, more women going to Uni 2) CIvil Rights - everyone should be treated the same - change in social power
- POLITICAL CLIMATE: 1) the USA's involvement led to people's distrust of the government (particularly younger gen's) - disenchantment of patriotic obedience - anti-war movement - people started questioning authoritative powers (Church, Politically) 2)Fight for civil rights (e.g. Martin Luther King)
- Joseph Fletcher
- What kind of theory is it? - key terms
- Normative Ethical Thoery (prescribes moral behaviour)
- Situational
- Christian Ethical Theory (non-secular)
- Teleological -focuses on the consequence
- Relativistc - is flexible
- Based on the concept of Agape
- Demands nothing in return
- = unconditional neighbourly love
- Self-sacrificial love
- CS Lewis "Specifically Christian Value"
- Unsentimental
- Stems from Jesus's teachings
- e.g. saving the adulterous women from being stoned to death
- Healing on the sabbath
- 'Love thy neighbour'
- Normative Ethical Thoery (prescribes moral behaviour)
- What is the most loving thing to do in this individual situation?
- THE SIX FUNDAMENT-AL PRINCIPLES
- 1: Love is always good (intrinsically good)
- 2: Love is the only norm (love replaces/ overrides law)
- 3: Love and justice are the same
- 4: Love wills the neighbours good
- 5: Love is the only means (the consequence must be the most loving result possible)
- 6: Love decides there and then (situational, not rule based)
- 5: Love is the only means (the consequence must be the most loving result possible)
- 4: Love wills the neighbours good
- 3: Love and justice are the same
- 2: Love is the only norm (love replaces/ overrides law)
- 1: Love is always good (intrinsically good)
- THE FOUR PRESUPPOSI-TIONS
- Pragmatism - actions should be practical and work in bringing about a loving outcome
- Positivism - you must freely choose to act in a loving way, cannot force morality onto someone
- Personalism - you must always put people before the law
- 3 WAYS OF MAKING MORAL DECISIONS
- LEGALISTIC - a set of fixed laws
- either end up with too many laws, or too many exceptions to these laws (hard to follow and check)
- takes away a persons responsibility for their actions - people don;t think for themselves
- too rigid + strict, ignores individual circumstance
- Situational - lies between the other two, only one rule (absolute law of love) but it is subject to any individual situation
- Fletcher rejected blindly following the Church and instead felt agape was more instrinsically Christian
- based off "God is love" 1 John 4:8
- ANTINOMIAN - opposite of legalistic, it means 'against law' "unprincipled" and "anarchic"
- no justification for a persons decisions, result in chaos + anarchy = leads to immoral acts, incompatible with Jesus teachings on agape from the Bible
- LEGALISTIC - a set of fixed laws
- CONTEXT
- ANTINOMIAN - opposite of legalistic, it means 'against law' "unprincipled" and "anarchic"
- no justification for a persons decisions, result in chaos + anarchy = leads to immoral acts, incompatible with Jesus teachings on agape from the Bible
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