The founder of situation ethics, Joseph Fletcher felt that the individual should be of paramount concern and that each ethical situation should be judged in its own context.Fletcher wanted to preserve the Christian principle of agape love
(A) What may be said in favour of situation ethics? [7] This essay shall discuss what may be said in favour of situation ethics. Firstly it shall discuss scholars that favour it and why. Secondly it shall discuss the features that situation ethics posses that makes it favourable to others. Finally it shall analyse the effect of situation ethics and why people favour to apply it. The founder of situation ethics, Joseph Fletcher felt that the individual should be of paramount concern and that each ethical situation should be judged in its own context. Fletcher wanted to preserve the Christian principle of agape love. Fletcher therefore proposed an anapaestic calculus and followed, "love your neighbour as yourself." Fletcher believed that only "one things is instrinclly good - love itself" Therefore a person following situation ethics would take each situation as it came and they would come to a judgment of the situation as responding by assessing the most compassionate option available. Fletcher claimed that Justice is only love in action. Agape love can also be seen to collapse into utilitarianism, "the greater good for the greater number" where "number" is replaced with "love" Paul Tillich said, "The law of love is the ultimate law because it is the negation of law, it is absolute because it concerns everything concrete. The absolutism of love is its power to go into
From the religion you have studied, discuss the view that religious ethics must be either deontological or teleological, but cannot be both
From the religion you have studied, discuss the view that religious ethics must be either deontological or teleological, but cannot be both. To answer this question, this essay will firstly give a definition and brief explanation of what is meant by deontological and teleological. Secondly, I will describe how Christian ethics can be deontological and how they can be teleological, giving examples and using ethical theories, to illustrate each. Finally, I will try to give an idea about how a religious ethic can combine elements of a deontological with a teleological approach, including my own personal views of the argument. Deontological Ethics (from the Greek Deon, meaning obligation) is an ethical theory considered solely on duty and rights, where one has an unchanging moral obligation to abide by a set of defined principles. Thus, the ends of any action never justify the means in this ethical system. If someone were to do their moral duty, then it would not matter if it had negative consequences. When we follow our duty, we are behaving morally. When we fail to follow our duty, we are behaving immorally. Teleological moral systems are characterised primarily by a focus on the consequences which any action might have. Thus, in order to make correct moral choices, we have to have some understanding of what will result from our choices. When we make choices which result in
Discussion of abortion
Abortion Abortion An abortion is a termination of a pregnancy. This results in killing an unborn baby. The technical name for this type of abortion is a procured abortion, however some people do not like to use the term procured as it means killing so they call it a termination. Sometimes abortions can occur naturally because the baby does not develop normally or the mother may have an injury, which would prevent her from carrying the pregnancy to term. This type of abortion is called a spontaneous abortion, which is usually known as a miscarriage. Abortion used to be a crime and in some countries like Ireland it still is. Each year 140,000 abortions take place without the consent of the father. Even if the father of the baby is married to the expectant mother he still has no rites and cannot stop the abortion. In 1967 David Steel introduced a bill, which became the abortion act. This said that an abortion could take place for up to 28 weeks. However now it has been amended to 24 weeks, because now doctors can keep babies alive from 24 weeks. After 24 weeks abortions are very rare but if two doctors decide that it is appropriate to still have an abortion because of the risk to the mother or the baby then it could take place. There are many different groups of people who campaign for and against abortion. 'The National Abortion Campaign' campaign for the right of the woman,
Explain what is meant by 'moral relativism'
a) Explain what is meant by 'moral relativism' Before we can discuss this question in more depth, we must simply give a definition for moral relativism. Moral relativism is a theory, especially in ethics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them. From this definition I can go on to further discuss moral relativism and briefly explain what is meant by the opposed view of relativism as well as other terms related to moral relativism. Moral relativism is the belief that morality does not relate to any absolute principles of right and wrong, but that 'good' and 'bad' are dependant on culture and circumstance. The opposite of moral relativism is absolutism. Absolutism declares that there are universal standards of right and wrong, whether or not they are agreed with by people, and independent of individual circumstances. According to an absolutist such as Immanuel Kant, if moral rules are right then they should apply to everyone, without making any exceptions for different people or special circumstances as the laws should be 'universalisable'. For example, in an absolute moral system, a rule that applies to a Muslim woman living if Afghanistan is equally applicable to a farmer in rural Canada. Another example would be Christian Churches preaching the Ten Commandments as a guide to knowing what one
Religious and/or moral principles are a hindrance with medical ethics. Examine and comment on this claim, with reference to the topic you have investigated.
George Thomas 12JB Religious and/or moral principles are a hindrance with medical ethics’. Examine and comment on this claim, with reference to the topic you have investigated. Abortion is the medical ethic of which I have investigated; a controversial topic to say the least. The above statement is one that definitely applies to the problems of abortion. However to understand how the statement can be applied one must come to terms with the definitions and aspects of abortion. Abortion can be defined as the intended termination of an unborn child, a foetus. The abortion act was introduced to the UK in 1967; however in Ireland the approach is still illegal. With abortion there is a criteria that follows: two doctors must certify and allow for the abortion to proceed and an abortion cannot go ahead if the method were to cause any lasting physical or psychological damage. In most cases an abortion can go under way if it protects the life of the mother. The methods of abortion are also an important aspect to consider. There are various methods and treatments a woman can have to proceed with the abortion. For example a woman between 7 – 15 weeks can take a pill which induces the same consequences of a miscarriage; an early medical abortion. This contrasts then with the late term abortion which relies on surgery and surgical instruments being used to extract and exterminate
How can Bentham's Utilitarianism be used to decide the right course of action?
Georgina Macaulay How can Bentham’s Utilitarianism be used to decide the right course of action? Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher born in 1748. He influenced the idea of utilitarianism, which is the teleological theory of ethics looking at the consequences and results of an action to decide whether an action is right or wrong and is a consequentialist theory. Utilitarian’s were social reformers and utilitarianism got its name from the question ‘What is the use of it. Bentham came up with this idea when he came across ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’. Bentham defined happiness as ‘the sum of pleasures and pains’ and his philosophy is known as utilitarianism due to its emphasis on the utility of acts consequences. Good is defined in terms of happiness; an act is right or wrong according to the good or bad that results from an act. ‘Happyism’ would’ve been a better name as this utility is seen as a contribution to happiness. He wanted to develop an ethical theory which showed whether something was good or bad according to its benefit for the largest majority of people. Bentham’s version of utilitarianism is often called act utilitarianism. Through research, Bentham concluded that people would naturally seek to avoid pain; as a result he argued that good is what equals the greatest pleasure and the least amount of pain for the
Utilitarianism ethics is the not the best approach to environmental ethics discuss
�Utilitarianism ethics is the not the best approach to environmental ethics� discuss (35) Environmental ethics covers a number of areas, it includes preservation of endangered species, conserving natural habitats, the effects of deforestation and the effects of pollution and is concerned with human attitudes towards and our impact upon the biological world. It considers whether it enhances or diminishes the well-being and diversity of other life on earth. Overall there are three key approaches linked to environmental ethics; deep ecology which is an approach concerned with the intrinsic value of the natural world it sees all life form of value and believes human life is just one part of the biosphere but instead all life has intrinsic value, eco-holism which places the emphasis not on individual human rights but it lends intrinsic value and inherent worth to species or eco-systems or the environment as a whole entity, as it sees it as intrinsically valuable therefore valuable in itself and shallow ecology which is an approach that states the environment is a means to human survival therefore it needs to be conserved in order for humans to flourish, animals are seen as having only instrumental value as their value lies in the usefulness they are to humans. When discussing utilitarianism as an approach in terms of environmental ethics, we must consider the
Explain different ethical approaches to issues of war and peace.
Explain different ethical approaches to issues of war and peace. [25] The justification for a war is often cited as it is one of Holy causes, this can be seen in the texts of the Old Testament, “Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it. They completely destroyed everything in it – men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys – everything.” Joshua 6:20-21. The basic concepts of a Holy War being that God is always on the right side, fighting against the Devil, this permits anything and creates no limitations as all actions by the side for “good” are doing God’s work. The Crusades in the Holy Land were religiously sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church as it fought for the regain of Christian control over Jerusalem from Islamic forces and took place between 1095 and 1291. Whilst the reasons for these wars were Holy there were many internal conflicts between the Christian nations, which conflicts the purpose of the Crusades being for God’s will as these countries and thus making it difficult to distinguish whether wars serve God or political and economic reasons. In a more recent example of Holy War, the terrorist actions of 9/11 and the July 7th bombings in London were justified by Jihad, the Islamic version of Holy War. No matter what the atrocity caused whether it be
Outline the Six Fundamental Principles of Joseph Fletchers Situation Ethics
Outline the Six Fundamental Principles of Joseph Fletcher’s Situation Ethics (30 Marks) Joseph Fletcher (1905-1991) is the father of Situation Ethics. He explains his theory in his book ‘Situation Ethics: The New Morality’ which was published in 1966. He said that we should always use the principle of agape when faced with a moral dilemma as this will lead us to the most moral decision. He said we should always apply this principle in everyday life and treat no two situations as identical. Situation Ethics is therefore both a relativistic and consequentialist theory. It is seen as a radical Christian approach to ethics as it goes against the legalistic approach that Christians had followed before, the theory also ‘suggests’ that Jesus was a situationist as many stories in the bible tell us of how he made decisions based on each individual situation and was not lead by the rules set out in the Old Testament; ‘The Ten Commandments’. Joseph Fletcher believed that there are three approaches to ethics. These include: The legalistic approach, which means that a set of laws or rules should be followed through which we make every moral decision. The Antinomian approach, meaning that there are no laws, rules or principles that must be followed when making a decision and the situation itself will provide the answer. And The Situational Approach which was founded by
Describe the main features of Joseph Fletchers theory of Situation ethics.
Describe the main features of Joseph Fletcher’s theory of Situation ethics. Joseph Fletcher devised the theory of situation ethics which is based upon the invariable Christian duty of “love thy neighbour as thyself” therefore every response to act must be based around the law of love, as love is the only thing which is intrinsically good. Fletcher also maintained that there are three ways of making moral decisions: legalistic ethics which is a set of prefabricated moral rules and regulations; antinomian ethics which bases moral decisions on spontaneity, basically against law, and then there’s Situation ethics which bases decisions on traditions of society and love. Joseph Fletcher, the mastermind behind this theory began his beliefs on situation ethics after teaching Christian ethics at school which influenced him to come up with situation ethics which is why it is so heavily Christian based. Although Fletcher depicted there was three main ways to make moral decisions (legalistic, antinomian and situation) he concluded that situation is the best out of the three. This is because it lets you have some freedom but also helps you to make the ‘correct’ decision, which is what gives the most love as love is the only thing which is intrinsically good. It also gives freedom as nothing is inherently good or evil and it gives an acceptable reason for your actions instead