Explain What Is Meant By Situation Ethics.

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Explain What Is Meant By Situation Ethics.

Religion has for a long time been a source of moral rules for many people. Probably the most famous set of rules is the 10 Commandments. An alternative view of moral rules is known as Situation Ethics. Situation ethics is an idea that was first developed by Joseph Fletcher. What Fletcher attempted to do was to create a compromise between having too many rules and no rules at all. Fletcher rejected the idea that everyone should follow a whole series of rules.

Instead of a whole number of rules, Fletcher suggested that there is only one rule that everyone should follow. This rule is about love and was called 'the law of love'. Fletcher defines what people should do in terms of love: the right course of action is to do the most loving thing.
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Christian love is not based on desire; it is self-giving love or agape. Agape does not depend on being loved in return. The command love calls individuals to a high level of person responsibility. There is only one ultimate and invariable duty, this is 'Thou shallt love thy neighbour as thyself'. From the Bible (Leviticus 19.18)

How do we know what the most loving thing to do is? As the name situation ethics suggests, for Fletcher, it is the situation that is important for determining what should be done. There is therefore, no way of knowing ...

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