Relativism: Situation ethics

Relativism: Situation ethics

1. The four working principles

   • Pragmatism
     • What you propose must work in practise
   • Relativism
     • No fixed rules, all decisions must be related to agape.
   • Positivism
     • Value judgement needs to be made, first place to love
   • Personalism
     • People are put in first place

2. The six fundamental principles

   • Love (agape) only absolute. One moral rule.
   • Self giving love, seeks best interests of others.
   • Justice will follow from love
   • Love has no favourites
   • Love must be the final end.
   • Loving thing to do depends on the situation

3. Strengths

   • Easy to understand
   • Can be constantly updated for new issues
   • Flexible, takes different situations into account
   • Concerns for others - agape
   • Allows people to take responsibility for own decisions.

4. Weaknesses

   • Pope Pius - wrong to make decisions based on individual situations if this went against teachings of the Church and Bible
   • Not possible to determine the consequences of actions