2.6A- Sexual Ethics Flashcards
(11 cards)
Premarital sex
-refers to sex before marriage. It might mean sex between two people who are planning to marry each other, or it might mean having sexual relationships whilst being a single person.
-Premarital sex has become much more common since the introduction of reliable contraception.
-Having children without being married has become increasingly common in the UK and socially acceptable.
-Cohabitation used to refer to couples who lived together before getting marrie, but today many cohabiting couples have no intention of getting married. People bring up children together without feeling it necessary to get married.
-Traditional Christian teaching is that sex before marriage is a sin. Sex should be for a couple who are committed to each other in a marriage partnership. Sex before marriage can be seen as undermining Christian marriage and demonstrating a lack of moral discipline.
-Christians might refer to Genesis 2:24 to support their views (it’s the united in one flesh quote).
-The Catechism of the Catholic Church argues that premarital sex does not support Christian ideas about fiedelity, exclusivity, and commitment, and is seen as a sin.
-Some leaders of the Church of England
accept that living together before marriage can be ‘a step along the way’ to marriage commitment, but others oppose it and insist on marriage as the proper context for a sexual relationship.
-Adrian Thatcher points out the long tradition of ‘betrothal’ as the key point of commitment rather than the marriage ceremony. Traditionally sexual relationships were permitted after betrothal- but betrothal was considered seriously binding, unlike modern cohabitation.
-In Christianity, there are different points of view, from those who think that cohabiting couples should be excluded from church to those who think that all forms of committed loving relationships should be encouraged.
Extramarital sex
-Extramarital sex refers to sexual relationships where one or both of the sexual partners are married to someone else.
-Christian teachin is firmly against extramarital sex (adultery). Adultery is forbidden in the Ten Commandments.
-The Catholic Church teaches that sex is exclusively for married couples. Because the Catholic Church doesn’t recognise divorce, it considers anyone entering a new sexual relationship after seperation or divorce as having extramarital sex.
-Christianity’s stance against divorce probably developed as a way of protecting women against being used as bargaining tools.
-Consent is seen as a key issue in sexual relationships in the modern world.
Ethical approaches to premarital and extramarital sex: Natural Law
-Followers of Natural law take an absolutist view of ethics.
-Natural law ethics is linked to an understanding of human nature as having a purpose. People should do those things that allow them to flourish and reach their potential.
-Catholic teaching relies heavily on natural law.
-In natural law, reproduction is one of the primary precepts. This is interpretated to mean that reproduction should be considered the main aim of sexual activity.
-premarital and extramarital sex are wrong, according to natural law, because they are not consistent with the flourishing of human society in bringing up children in stable families.
-The use of artificial methods of contraception is prohibited by the Catholic Church but not by most other denominations.
-Natural law could be seen as a good approach to issues of premarital sex and extramarital sex, as it gives clear rules rather than leaving people to make decisions in the heat of the moment.
-It emphasises the importance and sanctity of marriage and of reproduction, which could be seen as beneficial for the stability of society and in line with Christian principles.
Ethical approaches to premarital and extramarital sex: Situation Ethics
-Followers of situation ethics do not think that there should be rules guiding premarital or extramarital sex.
-Each situation should be considered in the context of its own circumstances, and the most loving course of action should be determined and followed.
-Situation ethics presents a relatavist view of morality.
-Fletcher uses issues of sexual ethics to illustrate his view that there should not be absolute rules, with examples of a woman having sex with a prison guard in order to secure her freedom, or a spy having sex with an enemy in order to bring about the end to war.
Ethical approaches to premarital and extramarital sex: Kantian Ethics
-Followers of Kant take an absolutist view of ethics based around ideas of duty and the cateogircal imperative.
-People should not treat other as a mean to an end, which rules out exploitative and non-consensual sexual relations.
-In the Kingdom of End, the commitmet of marriage would be respected.
-Universalisability would prevent so much sexual freedom that society was undermined.
-Kant emphasised the importance of promise-keeping and truth-telling, which suggests secret extramarital sex would be unethical.
Ethical approaches to premarital and extramarital sex: Utilitarianism
-John Stuart Mill argued that people should be protected from unnecessary legislation and should be free to behave how they wish unless it causes harm to others. This principle could be used by utilitarians to justify premarital sex, extramarital sex, and homosexuality- although opponents might argue that these practices do cause harm because they undermine the seriousness of a hetrosexual marriage commitment.
-Mill argues that marriage can smetimes reduce women to the status of slaves. He was not against marriage but he was in favour of gender equality.
-Mill tried to make contraception available to the poor at a time when the Christian Church opposed artifical contraception.
Homosexuality
-Homosexuality is a term used to describe sexual attraction between people of the same sex.
-Attitudes towards homosexuality have changed dramatically over the last hundred years. In the first half of the 20th Century, homosexuality was a crime. It was decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967. The first same-sex marriages took place in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014.
-People disagree about homosexuality. There are still many instances of anti-homosexual attacks and discrimination, but also many instances of public appearances and celebration of homosexual relationships.
-Christianity has traditionally opposed homeoseuxality as sinful.
-Some texts in the Bible condemn homosexual acts, such as Leviticus 18:22.
-There is disagreement about what these texts mean and whether they should be considered to be applicable and enforceable in the present day, especially as many other Old Testament rules are desregarded by Christians as no longer relevant.
-Homosexuality as an issue causes deep divisons between Christian Churches around the world and there are continuing debates. The Anglican Communion struggles to reach agreement about same-sex marriages in church and about the appointment of openly gay celergy. Some Churches such as the Methodists and the URC seek to welcome homosexual partners into Church life.
Ethical approaches to Homosexuality: Natural Law
-Natural law ethics see homosexual acts as wrong, because they cannot bring forth new life, and reproduction is seen as the telos of human sexuality.
-The Catholic Church has traditionally seen homosexuality as a sin, but in modern times some Catholics take a more liberal view of homosexuality.
-Pope Francis stated in 2016 that there are no grounds for considering a same-sex partnership to be similar to God’s plan for marriage and family life.
-Some people criticise natural law approaches to homosexuality because plenty of sexual relationships do not and cannot bring forth new life, such as sex between an older married couple, between married people with fertility issues and between a husband and a wife during pregnancy.
Ethical approaches to Homosexuality: Situation Ethics
-Situation ethics concentrates on finding the most loving outcome.
-It does not give rules about homosexuality in general, but would consider a homosexual relationship to be morally acceptable if it brought about agapeic love.
-Situation ethics might be difficult to apply to issues of homosexuality if the needs of other people as well as the needs of the couple are considered, but nost would agree that it is unloving to forbid homosexual relationships and loving to support them.
Ethical approaches to Homosexuality: Kantian Ethics
-Kantian ethics is deontological, pacing duty and autonomy at the heart of moral decision-making, and is used to formulate rules governing sexual behaviour.
-Applying Kantian principles to issues of homosexuality does not lead to one clear answer, but could be used to justify a range of attitudes.
-Kantians could argue that treating everyone with dignity must mean that homosexual relationships should be regarded as equal to heterosexual relationships.
-They could argue that the principle of universalisability means that everyone should have the right to express their sexuality in a relationship.
-Kantian Ethics emphasises mutal consent and avoiding exploitation, and these principles should underpin relationships regardless of the seuxality of the partners.
Ethical approaches to Homosexuality: Utilitarianism
-Utilitarians look for moral actions that will bring about the greatest happiness and cause the least harm.
-Many utilitarians would argue that homosexual relationships cause happiness to those in them and do not harm any one else.
-Some argue that homosexual relationships do harm the rest of society because they undermine marriage as a stable social institution.
-Most utilitarians reject the need for rules about private behaviour between two consenting adults, if they cause no harm to others.
