Situation Ethics

Situation Ethics

1. Joseph Fletcher

   • American professor in the field of bioethics
   • Influenced by scholars such as William Temple and Paul Ramsey

2. Natural Law

   • Mainly associated with Aristotle and Aquinas
   • Set of laws in which bring you closer to God
   • Aristotle believes that you should always act with reason
   • Actions are either intrinsically good or intrinsically bad
   • The laws are followed out of a sense of duty rather than love

3. Legalism, antinomianism and situationism

   • Legalism
     • Set or sets of prefabricated moral rules and regulations
     • Runs into many problems when there issues are more complicated
     • Can be found in the Ten Commandments and religions such as Judaism and Christianity
     • A legalist must either include all complex alternatives in the law or create new laws to cover the result
   • Antinomianism
     • Opposite of legalism
     • Has no ethical system. Decisions are made spontaneously and each is unique to the situation.
   • Situationism
     • A situationist believes that rules should be in place but can be broken or put aside in order to maintain the greatest amount of love given from the situationist
     • All morals are hypothetical as the decision made is dependant on the situation.
     • "The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to loves need"
     • Fletcher found that in the bible Jesus followed a situationist view, as he often cared more for a person than for the Christian rules

4. Example - context

5. The six fundamental principles

   • Love is the only norm
   • Love only is always good
   • Love justifies the means
   • Love and justice are the same
   • Love is not liking
   • Love decides there and then

6. Strengths and weaknesses

   • Strengths
   • Weaknesses

7. Five primary precepts

   • P.R.O.W.L
     • Reproduce
     • Order society
     • Worship god
     • Preserve life
     • Learn