Fichas
Situation Ethics
Fichas del conjunto (23)
- 1What are the three types of ethics according to Fletcher?Legalistic
Antinomian
Situation - 2What are the 4 working principles of Situation Ethics?Pragmatism
Relativism
Positivism
Personalism - 3In what decade did Joseph Fletcher create the theory of Situation Ethics?1960s
- 4What inspired Situation Ethics?Fletcher appealed to the biblical scholar Rudolf Bultmann, according to whom Jesus taught no ethics other than "love thy neighbour as thyself"
- 5What are the 6 fundamental principles of Situation Ethics?1. Love is always good
2. Love is the only norm
3. "Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed"
4. "Love wills the neighbours good whether we like him or not"
5. Love justifies the means
6. Love decided there and then - 6What are Fletcher's 4 examples? Can you give a brief description of each?Himself Might his Quietus Make
Special Bombing Mission No.13
Christian Cloak and Dagger
Sacrificial Adultery - 7What evidence did Fletcher use to show that Jesus was opposed to strict application of Biblical law?The woman caught in adultery
Jesus' attitude to the Sabbath - 8Describe the example 'Himself might his quietus make'A terminally ill patient has 6 months to live. His doctors and prescribe pills that will extend his life by 3 years. However, his life insurance expires before then. If he takes the pills, his family could be left with nothing.
What should he do? - 9Describe the example of 'Special Bombing Mission no.13'This example concerns the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- 10Describe the example of 'Christian Cloak and Dagger'A young woman has been asked by the government to seduce and sleep with an enemy spy in order to blackmail him. She must decide whether to go against her moral principles and do this, given that it might help bring an end to the war.
- 11Describe the example of 'Sacrificial Adultery'During the Second World War, a married German woman was captured by Soviets and put into a prisoners-of-war camp in the Ukraine. The rules were that people could only be released from the camp if they were pregnant. So the woman asked a Volga camp guard to impregnate her. She was allowed to leave, and reconciled with her family.
- 12How did Pope Pius XII attack Situation Ethics?1. Individualistic—humans will just use it to justify their own perspective.
2. Subjective
3. What is believed to be a loving end by some can justify actions that many people believe are wrong.
Situation ethics is ‘an individualistic and subjective appeal to the concrete circumstances of actions to justify decisions in opposition to the natural law or God’s revealed will.’ - 13Which thinkers was Fletcher influenced by?1. The Utilitarians: Bentham & Mill
2. The Pragmatists: Pierce, Dewey, James - 14‘There is only one ultimate and invariable duty, and its formula is “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” How to do this is another question, but this is the whole of moral duty.’William Temple
- 15‘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 the concrete situation, to discover what is demanded by the predicament of the concrete to which it turns. Therefore, love can never become fanatical in a fight for the absolute, or cynical under the impact of the relative.’Paul Tillich
- 16In one paragraph, what is Situation Ethics?Not a “system” of ethics, but a method of ethical decision making. This method involves calculating love in the objective situation—the “agapeic calculus”. Love is active goodwill towards the neighbour—it is actively seeking the neighbour’s good. It is a heedful and calculating good, and when it searches for social policy, it ‘must form a coalition with utilitarianism.’ Just as with rule utilitarianism, Fletcher acknowledges that moral principles can be illuminators of moral problems, though they are not binding.
- 17What are some examples of antinomian ethical theories?Christian libertinism, Gnosticism, existentialism
- 18What is Positivism, and why does Fletcher presuppose it?There are only two theological epistemologies: theological naturalism and positivism. Naturalism believes that religious belief can be grounded in experience and reason. Positivism asserts that faith propositions are affirmed voluntaristically, rather than rationalistically.
Fletcher accepts positivism because the is/ought gap supposedly shows that it is not possible to ultimately justify a moral system, and hence all value judgements (aesthetic and moral) are decisions not conclusions. - 19What is personalism?The presuppositions that persons are the only entities with intrinsic moral value. Something is only good if it is good for some person.
- 20How does the idea that "love and justice are the same" change our conception of both love and justice?Love is not sentimental: it is an intellectual disposition to seek the welfare of all.
It is a mistake to think of justice as our obligation; love as our voluntary choice. - 21What four factors must be considered when evaluating a moral action, according to Fletcher?The end
The means
The motive
The consequences - 22What role does religion play in Situation Ethics?Fletcher states the theses of his book within the context of Christian rhetoric, and draws upon the thought of many authors. However, he notes that any ethic that is non-legalistic and person-centred rather than principle centred can be a situation ethic, it need not be Christian. Fletcher is clear that religion is not necessary for morality; theology not necessary for ethics. The only difference between Christian and non-Christian uses of situation ethics concerns motive.
Fletcher gave up Christianity one year after writing Situation Ethics. - 23What are some objections to situation ethics?1. The freedom offered to us by situation ethics is not helpful. The principle of love is not a sufficient barrier to antinomianism.
2. Love aims at the general welfare. What conception of welfare should we use?
3. Fletcher conceives of all moral rules as being either merely illuminative or absolute. James Childress argues there is a middle way: rules that are prima facie binding.
4. How do we define situations? If all consequences have to be considered, then the situation becomes indeterminate, and this could lead to moral paralysis.
5. Do the means justify the ends? Perhaps God could be a utilitarian, but humans, as limited beings, are better off sticking to means that we know are permissible.
6. Like the utilitarians, there is no notion of supererogation in situation ethics.
Información
- Descripción
- Pre-U (Paper 3) Philosophy Pre-U Fichas sobre Situation Ethics, creado por muon neutrino el 29/05/2017.
- Creado por
- muon neutrino
- Visitas
- 0
- Valoración