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 concrete situations" Situation ethics regards mainly love and situations ethicists believe that if love is involved the outcome is coming from a good place and produces the right choice or result in a situation, which is why it is appealing and favourable by others to apply in a given situation. Tillich believes that is possible to live a life of just love and this will fulfil the major purpose of human existence.
Bishop John Robinson of Woolwich published his book, "Honest to God" in Britain and he argued that man has come to age and therefore does not need the authority of any holy scriptures all that is require is love. Christians in particular would favour situation ethics because if follows one of the two commands, "Love they neighbour as you would love thy self" by applying love to others and all situations a loving result or the most loving consequence would occur. Most people believe that it can choose the least bad approach, unlike the legalistic approach.
Situation ethics is favourable because of its features - its flexible and practical and allows pragmatic decisions to be made when needed to be. Situation Ethics is can able to make tough decisions, where a legalistic perspective : all actions appear to be wrong. It therefore takes into account the complexities of human life. This gives it a dynamism and can free up deadlocked moral dilemmas. A situation ethicist can lay aside all the rules, such as lying, for the better outcome of saving a persons life. It provides an alternative Christian ethic that aligns with the Gospel representation of Jesus. Protestants in particular would favour situation ethics.
Regardless of what has happed in the past, cases are judged on their own merit individually. For example a teenager may have committed the crime of theft in the past, however over the years has served their sentence and is looking for work, a situation ethicists would not turn them away immediately because of their past, but would judge them regarding their qualification and personality, to see if it best suit's the occupation they are applying for.
In conclusion situation ethics has no rules, therefore nothing can be instrinclly wrong or right, besides the principle of ...
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Regardless of what has happed in the past, cases are judged on their own merit individually. For example a teenager may have committed the crime of theft in the past, however over the years has served their sentence and is looking for work, a situation ethicists would not turn them away immediately because of their past, but would judge them regarding their qualification and personality, to see if it best suit's the occupation they are applying for.
In conclusion situation ethics has no rules, therefore nothing can be instrinclly wrong or right, besides the principle of love. This is because love tends to seek the well being of others, even if this course of action is not what they personally agree too. For example a mother may be very old and suffering intolerable pain and has no hope to survive more than a few weeks or so, the daughter would not want to loose her mother. However the most loving thing to do would to be, euthanasia - because it would prevent the mother suffering any more pain. This shows that it identifies the need for individuals in certain situations. It is especially favourable because it puts people first and is possible to apply in every situation, it is selfless and refreshing and is constantly promoting Agape love.
(B) For what reasons in this open to criticism [7]
This essay shall discuss the reasons why situation ethics is open to criticism. Firstly it shall begin by criticizing Fletcher the founder of situation ethics and his ideas. Secondly it shall analyse the negative effects of applying situation ethics. Finally it shall discuss the many flaws in situation ethics itself.
Fletcher claimed that we should always apply Agape love to any situation and do what the most loving thing is in any situation. However this is very difficult when making moral decision because we all have different opinion of what is loving or unloving in a particular situation. Due to the fact that we all in some way define love differently, we will not always come out with the same outcome as what the most loving course of action actually is. It has been argued that love is in fact incapable of giving any guidance on making moral decisions and that love isn't the guide lines of many of the decisions in Fletcher's system but it is actually preconceived personal preferences.
Therefore what we see as the most loving thing may not be, but we see this as the most loving - because it is in our perspective. This makes situation ethics individualistic because humans only see things from their own perspective. This causes the danger of a selfish human tendency polluting the Agape love. Even though situation ethics revolves around the one principle of Christian love, it can be argued that in fact It is going against the Christian Church and some of their teachings, because it is so individualistic it suggest that the decision of the individual is far more important than the church. Actions are not as dissimilar as Fletcher suggests, situation ethics can justify any situation and defend it, when others would argue that the action is morally wrong. Such as committing adultery, the adulterer may claim that it was the most loving thing to do because they gained pleasure and so did the other individual from his course of action in the end. However the partner would suffer intolerable heart ache because of her partner committing adultery, this shows that one person may believe their course of actions is the most loving thing to do, however from another individuals view, this is not at all the most loving thing to do.
The negative effects of applying situation ethics : - for any individual it is not easy to determine the consequences of actions and the long lasting negative effect it could have on another individual. It is seen as subjective, because decisions must be made from within the situation as it is perceived to be and justifies immoral acts.
For example, Hitler and Stalin could have classified their actions as loving, as they certainly saw what they were doing as justifiable, when morally it is seen as very wrong!
Those that do follow Agape love can also often be taken advantage of by those that do not, and are much more devious. William Barclay claims that situation ethics is arrogant, as it turns its back on laws and tradition which can cause a great deal of problems. Situation ethic does not take into account the human nature, there is the possibility that when applying situation ethics, human beings can act out of self interest regarding the most loving thing to do, so that they benefit. Regarding situation ethics there is the assumption that just because an act is well motivated that it is automatically right, when this is not always clearly the case.
In conclusion, there are a great deal of criticism regarding situation ethics, because it can be seen as selfish rather than selfless and can be taken advantage of by people to justify their actions in immoral situations. We all define love differently and would have different opinions of what the most loving course of action which demonstrates that situation ethics is not easy to apply in a situation because individuals only see things from their perspective which in some cases may not in fact cause the most loving course of actions or others, but their selves.
( C) Comment on the view that, overall, situation ethics is an acceptable ethical theory. [7]
This essay shall discuss whether situation ethics is an acceptable ethical theory. Firstly it shall discuss the positive impact and advantage that situation ethics posses. Secondly it shall discuss the disadvantages and flaws of situation ethics. Thirdly it shall analyse the overall evaluation of situation ethics and whether it is an acceptable ethical theory.
Situation ethicists believe that they choose the least bad approach in comparison to legalists. It always provides an alternative Christian ethic that is consistent with the representation of Jesus in the Gospels, therefore it can be seen as an acceptable ethical theory in the Christian perspective. It revolves around Agape love, which is the major principle, and therefore makes it omnibenovelent. Many regard it to be a very flexible and practical ethical theory because it takes into account the many complexities of human live, along with the tough decisions that human beings have to make, such as - abortion and euthanasia.
It disregards all rules for a better outcome of saving a person's lives. Such as theft, which is seen as wrong, however a situation ethicists would take into account if the person was stealing to better their life and would help them survive, for example: homeless man, stealing bread from a local store - they would not judge the poor man but take into account his situation. Situation Ethics can be seen as seeking for the well being of others at all times, and not a judgmental ethical theory because it only takes into account the situation there and then, and not any issues or actions that have occurred in the past.
However, it has been argued that situation ethics is in fact subjective because decisions can only be made from within the situation as it is seen, and actions and issues that may have occurred in the past can be extremely relevant on the situation that is currently occurring. It is difficult for a situation ethicists decision to be seen as completely correct in all aspects because for what the situation ethicists may see as the most loving course of action and outcome, another situation ethicists may disagree and see another course of action being the most loving decision. This clearly demonstrates that situation ethics is individualistic and that humans see things from their perspective, but not from other people's perspectives, and this can cause to a confusion between decisions and the right course of actions - making situation ethics an unacceptable ethical theory.
It does not take into account the views of other people and what they find the most loving decision, it is only one situation ethicists perspective that it is dependent on and their own personal meaning of love and it appears to put emphasis on that individual which shows that there is no collective framework. Due to the fact we all define love differently this can cause a great deal of difficulties when concluding to the most loving decision. It appears that humans tend to pollute Agape love by the fact that they can be selfish at times, situation ethicists may choose the most loving decision, however they - like all humans - are likely to take into account the effect that this may have upon them and if they would benefit from this decision. Dacher Keltner from the university of California says, "In my seminars I asked my undergraduates to complete the following cause, "humans are..." and 70% of their responses referred to some form of selfishness." which clearly demonstrates that humans themselves are fully aware of their actions and that many can be selfish at times.
Therefore in conclusion -situation ethics is an unacceptable ethical theory because for any individual it is not easy to determine the consequences of actions and the long lasting negative effect it could have on another individual even if they believe that they have chosen the most loving course of action. Situation ethics appears to be unacceptable because it has far too many flaws, such as it does not take into account the human nature, and different interpretation in situations. Fletcher - the founder of this ethical theory actually provided one single law that can be easily broken as another, because the absolute principle, "act situationally - act with the greatest love" is in fact a law.
Bibliography
Books
Religious studies: Philosophy and Ethics through diagrams. - Greg Dewar (first published 2002 in Great Britain)
Religious Studies - Sarah K Tyler and Gordon Reid (Philip Allan updates and re published in 2002)
Ethical Studies Second Edition - Robert A Bowie ( published in 2001,2004 and bound in Spain by GraphyCems)
Peter Vardy and Paul Grosch - The puzzle of Ethics (published 1994)
Websites
http://www.faithnet.org.uk/AS%20Subjects/Ethics/situation_ethics.htm
http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Brown/T/Pierce/1923/ethics.html
http://www.bigissueground.com/philosophy/ash-situationethics.shtml
http://www.christiancourier.com/feature/march99.htm
http://www.the-highway.com/articleJan02.html
http://www.ch-of-christ.beaverton.or.us/SITETHIC.htm
http://www.bigissueground.com/philosophy/wilson-situationethics.shtml
http://www.philosophy-religion.org/handouts/situation.htm
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/655.htm
http://www.mindandlife.org/si04_reading/compassionpiece.pdf
