Situation Ethics 2

Situation Ethics 2

1. Conscience - what it is and what it is not

   • Fletcher rejected the idea of mortality as a manual for conscience. In other words, mortality is not something that is set in stone and dictates how the conscience is to react in a given situation. Situation Ethics calls for the practical application of Christian love to a given situation. The situation and context comes first and the principles are put aside.
   • 1. Situation Ethics, as an ethical principle is closely linked to the idea of the conscience.
     • 2. However, conscience is used in a special sense in Situation Ethics.
       • 3. Fletcher rejects the traditional idea of what conscience is.
         • 4. Conscience is not 'intuition', is not a channel of guidance from God, is not a value system of a culture or society and finally it is not the reason for making moral judgements.
           • 5. Fletcher rejects these ideas because they all treat conscience as a thing, which Fletcher believes is a mistake.
             • 6. Rather, for him, conscience is a verb rather than a noun - it is something you do when you make decisions, as he puts it, 'creatively'.
               • 7. Some Christian writers have argued that conscience was the voice of God inside you, the way in which we understand what God's laws are.
                 • 8. However for Fletcher, conscience is not a bag of reliable rules and principles to tell you what to do
                   • 9. It in no way guides human action.
                     • 10. For the Situationist, conscience describes the weighing of the possible decision before it is taken.
                       • 11. For example the process of weighing whether to have an abortion or not.

2. Moral decisions rather than rules

   • The roots of 'new mortality' can be found in 'Classical' Christianity. Fletcher sees his approach to ethics as grounded in the Christian gospel. He sees love as an active principle 'love is the only universal. But love is not something we have or are, it is something we do'. It is a 'doing' thing rather than a noun or thing in itself
   • 1. Situation Ethics moves away from legalism and following rules by focusing on moral decisions.
     • 2, In situation ethics, right and wrong depend upon the situation.
       • 3. There are no universal moral rules or rights - each case is unique and deserves a unique solution.
         • 4. An example of this is the actions of Jesus when he heeled the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day.
           • 5. He put aside the rules regarding the Sabbath Law and did the right thing.
   • 6. Situation Ethics rejects 'prefabricated decisions and prescriptive rules'.
     • 7. It teaches that ethical decisions should follow flexible guidelines rather than absolute rules, and be taken on a case by case basis.
       • 8. A further example is the St Louis cab driver that Fletcher quoted who said 'Sometimes you've gotta out your principles to one side and do the right thing'.
         • 9. Rules (or principles) aren't the same thing as doing what is right.
           • 10. So a person who practices situation ethics approaches ethical problems with some general moral principles rather than a rigorous set of ethical laws and is prepared to give up even those principles if doing so will lead to a greater good.