Transcript Situation Ethics

Situation Ethics
‘The New Morality’
Basic Details
• A relativist, consequentialist theory. It does not
prescribe fixed rules; it considers the outcomes of
actions.
• First developed by Joseph Fletcher in Situation
Ethics (1963).
• Inspired by Jesus’ gospel message of love
(agape). Fletcher appealed to the biblical scholar
Rudolf Bultmann, according to whom Jesus
taught no ethics other than “love thy neighbour
as thyself”.
“The morality of
an action depends
upon the
situation”
Joseph Fletcher
Inspired by the Bible, but not absolutist
Rudolf Bultmann:
Jesus didn’t teach a
system of ethics, only
“love thy neighbour”
Other ethical approaches
• Fletcher distinguished Situation Ethics from two
common approaches to ethics: legalism and antinomianism (nomos =law).
• Legalists enforce fixed rules and rigid morality.
• Anti-nomians shun laws and live without moral
restraints.
• According to Fletcher, his theory avoided the
pitfalls of both, being more flexible than legalism
and more principled than anti-nomianism.
Four Working Principles
•
1)
2)
3)
4)
Fletcher stated that there are four basic
‘working principles’ to Situation Ethics:
Pragmatism – moral actions must work or
achieve some realistic goal.
Relativism – there are no fixed laws which
must always be obeyed.
Positivism – first place is given to Christian
love, rooted in faith. Belief precedes action.
Personalism – people come first, not rules or
ideals.
Six Fundamental Principles
There are also six ‘fundamental principles’:
• Only one thing is intrinsically good: love.
• The ruling norm of Christian decision is love.
• Love and justice are the same.
• Love wills the neighbour’s good, whether we
like him or not.
• Only the end justifies the means, nothing else.
• Love’s decisions are made situationally, not
prescriptively.
Also during the 1960’s, Bishop
John Robinson was developing
similar views to Fletcher. He
was supportive of Situation
Ethics and himself wrote:
“Assertions about God are in
the last analysis assertions
about love”
Robinson thought that love was
at the core of what it meant to
be Christian, rather than
inflexible absolute moral rules.
Strengths of Situation Ethics
• Christian system – consistent with the teaching of
Jesus eg Good Samaritan “go, and do likewise”.
• Flexible relativist system – in enables people to
make tough decisions.
• It emphasises love (agape) – surely everyone
agrees that’s a good thing.
• It avoids conflicts of duty, as one experiences in
absolute systems. Where moral rules collide,
Situation Ethics gives a way of resolving the
conflict: love.
Weaknesses of Situation Ethics
• Christian system – atheists and those of other
faiths might not want to follow the example of
Jesus. Agape is a very high standard.
• Relativist system – it could allow for almost any
action.
• ‘Love’ is very subjective. People naturally will
disagree about what loving behaviour is.
• It is difficult to predict the future results of actions
– making consequentialist decisions based on love
is unreliable.
Bernard Hoose - Proportionalism
• Hoose attempted to modify Fletcher’s theory by
combining it with elements of Natural Moral law.
He called the resulting theory ‘Proportionalism’.
• Hoose gave the maxim: “It is never right to go
against a principle unless there is a
• proportionate reason to justify it.”
Exam questions: Religious = Christian
• AS: a) Explain how religious ethics helps
resolve issues around abortion.
• It looks difficult, but is actually very easy.
• Situation ethics is a religious system
(remember Jesus and agape), so it is
bound together with the issue of religion
and morality. It is Christian relativism,
whereas Natural Law and Divine
Command are absolute systems of ethics.