Situation Ethics Flashcards
(16 cards)
What is situational ethics the “middle man” of?
Legalism and antinomianism
Mark 12 quote?
love your God with all of your heart … love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these
1 Corinthians quote?
the greatest of these is love
What did Rudolf Bultmann argue?
Jesus had no other ethical ideology other than ‘love thy neighbour’
What did Karl Barth argue?
‘God’s commanding’ is not a rule but applied individually
What is agape?
Agape - selfless, unconditional love
The universal rule of Fletcher’s theory
Is Fletcher a Chrsitian?
He was but gave up his Christian belief, but did not give up on situation ethicsh
What does Fletcher distinguish as the distinction
Christian situationists will reflect agape because of Jesus
Non-Christian situationists will reflect agape for a different reason- may be Aristotelian and eudaimonia, people pleasing, etc.
What are the 6 propositions?
Only love is ‘intrinsically good’
Love is the ‘ruling norm’
‘Justice is love distributed’
‘Love wills the neighbour good’
‘Only the ends justify the means, nothing else’
‘situationally, not prescriptively’
What are the 4 working principles?
Pragmatism - practical
Relativism - individual situations
Positivism - optimism that without seeing love, it is always there
Personalism - person centered
What does Fletcher argue about conscience?
It is a verb. not a noun
The process of making a moral decision
What does William Barclay say?
‘We must make man morally and lovingly fit to make that decision; otherwise we need the compulsion of law to make him do it’
What are some strengths of situation ethics?
Adaptable to specific situations
Teleological
What are some weaknesses of situation ethics?
Teleological - how can you predict?
Doesn’t give simple answers to difficult questions, unlike a legalistic ethic
How many people need to be considered in a given situation?
Do you look beyond the immediate situation?
Selective evidence
Humans are narcissistic in survival- fail to consider the interests of others
Could justify anything if the situation was extreme enough- but genocide, rape should just be inherently wrong
What did Reverend John Macquarrie say>
Fundamentally and incurably individualistic- never a basis for a social morality
What did D.Z. Phillips
whatever one does, one is going to hurt someone
