SITUATION ETHICS
Situation ethics was created by Joseph Fletcher in the 1960s, the 60s being defined by its radical social movements.
His approach embodies liberal christian views prioritising love.
Legalism: the view that people require strict rules to follow
Antinomianism: the view that there are no rules to follow at all.
Fletcher claimed that situation ethics was a middle ground between this, avoiding the problems of the extremes.
The good action in a situation is the one that has the most loving consequence, making SE consequential.
AGAPE
Agape: God’s love as shown in the Bible, the unconditional Christian love that Jesus commands ‘love thy neighbour’
Agape should be prioritised in every situation and you can also interpret religious rules (e.g. if a family is hiding from
murders and the baby wont stop crying, revealing their location, then killing the baby is the most loving thing to do
otherwise they will all die anyway)
THE FOUR WORKING PRINCIPLES
Pragmatism: an action must be calibrated to the reality of the situation
Relativism: relativising the absolute means that absolutes like ‘do not kill’ become relative to love (e.g. euthanasia
can be loving despite being killing). Love is the only relative criteria in any situation and can always be applied.
Positivism: ethics is rooted in love and love is always good. Using love aligns with human nature, ensuring positive
consequences by prioritising love.
Personalism: actions must put humans first to minimise physical and mental harm.
THE SIX FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Love is always good: the only criterion that should be prioritised in any situation
Love is the only norm: social rules can be broken sometimes to allow for the most loving thing
Love and justice are the same: love is completely fair in practice
Love wills the neighbour’s good whether we like him or not: Jesus called on us to love our neighbour
Love is the only means: the action that is being undertaken is justified by loving circumstances
Love decides there and then: there can be no moral absolutes as loving is obvious only in the specific situation
EXAMPLES OF AGAPE
Spy: a WW2 female spy has an option to lie to and seduce an enemy in a way in order to save millions of lives by
procuring information that can stop the war.
POW: Mrs Bergermeier the prisoner of war decides to commit adultery and become pregnant – this is the only way
that she could be released from the POW camp and be reunited with her family, who needed her to keep them
together in the
aftermath of the war.
Terminally ill man: a man has an option to refuse medication that could preserve his life, in order to die within the
timeframe left on his health insurance, making sure his family are left with money to help them.
Strengths: clear alternative to christian ethics that is consistent with Jesus’ teachings, flexible and practical, very
easy to understand (occam's razor), you don't have to follow conventional rule, based on rational love which is a key
feature of ethical systems, suitable for a modern world
Weaknesses: its subjective and depends on personal opinion, it is individualistic, prepared to accept any actions such
as murder or rape, can be inconsistent with some teachings in the bible, people need laws, everyone has their own
bias and asking people to ignore that is hard
, VIRTUE ETHICS
Eudaimonia: happiness or a general sense of wellbeing
FUNCTION ARGUMENT
There is a correlation between goodness and function (e.g. a sharp knife is a good knife). Function can depend on the
nature of the soul by doing what is characteristic for them, for humans it is nutrition and growth, movement, sense
perception, and the most important: reason. Aristotle said that a good life is one that has exercised reason well since
it's a characteristic exclusive to humans.
DIVISION OF VIRTUES
A human soul is split into rational and non-rational. Non-rational has moral virtues such as courage, patience and
modesty, whereas rational has intellectual virtues such as maths and philosophy. Moral virtues are formed through
habit, a virtuous person must not act through ignorance and choose to act virtuously.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN
Specific virtues between two extremes, there can be an excess or deficiency therefore we need to sit in the middle
which can be individualistic.
Phronimos: meaning a man of practical wisdom, a phronimos is a good judge of character and has achieved practical
wisdom
FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES
Prudence: meaning practical wisdom, rational rule to determine moral mean. The first and most important cardinal
rule as no one can act correctly without prudence. Prudence is intellectual (e.g. you wouldn’t know you were being
cowardice unless you had prudence). Prudence is gained through living life and can also be known as phronesis.
Justice: wants one to do what is right, justice deals with action and desire (e.g. a wounded veteran may deserve
more from the state than an average citizen). Justice has no mean and it is ‘every virtue summed up’
Temperance: hitting the mean with regards to bodily pleasures, avoids the extremes of self-indulgence and seeking
them at the right time (e.g. enjoy a beer without getting drunk). The self controlled person trains himself to enjoy
moderate natural appetites
Fortitude: striking the means with regards to fear and confidence, the regulation of emotion, its deficiency is
cowardice and excess is foolhardiness.
Strengths: gives you a base to make decisions, helps you be happier from being a better person, gives you goals to
strive towards, everyone has at least one, opportunity to grow, human centred ethical system.
Weaknesses: impossible to achieve all of them, different for everyone, doesn’t take the situation into account, may
prioritise different virtues, quite outdated and elitist, virtues are culturally relative, hard to apply to modern issues
Situation ethics was created by Joseph Fletcher in the 1960s, the 60s being defined by its radical social movements.
His approach embodies liberal christian views prioritising love.
Legalism: the view that people require strict rules to follow
Antinomianism: the view that there are no rules to follow at all.
Fletcher claimed that situation ethics was a middle ground between this, avoiding the problems of the extremes.
The good action in a situation is the one that has the most loving consequence, making SE consequential.
AGAPE
Agape: God’s love as shown in the Bible, the unconditional Christian love that Jesus commands ‘love thy neighbour’
Agape should be prioritised in every situation and you can also interpret religious rules (e.g. if a family is hiding from
murders and the baby wont stop crying, revealing their location, then killing the baby is the most loving thing to do
otherwise they will all die anyway)
THE FOUR WORKING PRINCIPLES
Pragmatism: an action must be calibrated to the reality of the situation
Relativism: relativising the absolute means that absolutes like ‘do not kill’ become relative to love (e.g. euthanasia
can be loving despite being killing). Love is the only relative criteria in any situation and can always be applied.
Positivism: ethics is rooted in love and love is always good. Using love aligns with human nature, ensuring positive
consequences by prioritising love.
Personalism: actions must put humans first to minimise physical and mental harm.
THE SIX FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Love is always good: the only criterion that should be prioritised in any situation
Love is the only norm: social rules can be broken sometimes to allow for the most loving thing
Love and justice are the same: love is completely fair in practice
Love wills the neighbour’s good whether we like him or not: Jesus called on us to love our neighbour
Love is the only means: the action that is being undertaken is justified by loving circumstances
Love decides there and then: there can be no moral absolutes as loving is obvious only in the specific situation
EXAMPLES OF AGAPE
Spy: a WW2 female spy has an option to lie to and seduce an enemy in a way in order to save millions of lives by
procuring information that can stop the war.
POW: Mrs Bergermeier the prisoner of war decides to commit adultery and become pregnant – this is the only way
that she could be released from the POW camp and be reunited with her family, who needed her to keep them
together in the
aftermath of the war.
Terminally ill man: a man has an option to refuse medication that could preserve his life, in order to die within the
timeframe left on his health insurance, making sure his family are left with money to help them.
Strengths: clear alternative to christian ethics that is consistent with Jesus’ teachings, flexible and practical, very
easy to understand (occam's razor), you don't have to follow conventional rule, based on rational love which is a key
feature of ethical systems, suitable for a modern world
Weaknesses: its subjective and depends on personal opinion, it is individualistic, prepared to accept any actions such
as murder or rape, can be inconsistent with some teachings in the bible, people need laws, everyone has their own
bias and asking people to ignore that is hard
, VIRTUE ETHICS
Eudaimonia: happiness or a general sense of wellbeing
FUNCTION ARGUMENT
There is a correlation between goodness and function (e.g. a sharp knife is a good knife). Function can depend on the
nature of the soul by doing what is characteristic for them, for humans it is nutrition and growth, movement, sense
perception, and the most important: reason. Aristotle said that a good life is one that has exercised reason well since
it's a characteristic exclusive to humans.
DIVISION OF VIRTUES
A human soul is split into rational and non-rational. Non-rational has moral virtues such as courage, patience and
modesty, whereas rational has intellectual virtues such as maths and philosophy. Moral virtues are formed through
habit, a virtuous person must not act through ignorance and choose to act virtuously.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN
Specific virtues between two extremes, there can be an excess or deficiency therefore we need to sit in the middle
which can be individualistic.
Phronimos: meaning a man of practical wisdom, a phronimos is a good judge of character and has achieved practical
wisdom
FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES
Prudence: meaning practical wisdom, rational rule to determine moral mean. The first and most important cardinal
rule as no one can act correctly without prudence. Prudence is intellectual (e.g. you wouldn’t know you were being
cowardice unless you had prudence). Prudence is gained through living life and can also be known as phronesis.
Justice: wants one to do what is right, justice deals with action and desire (e.g. a wounded veteran may deserve
more from the state than an average citizen). Justice has no mean and it is ‘every virtue summed up’
Temperance: hitting the mean with regards to bodily pleasures, avoids the extremes of self-indulgence and seeking
them at the right time (e.g. enjoy a beer without getting drunk). The self controlled person trains himself to enjoy
moderate natural appetites
Fortitude: striking the means with regards to fear and confidence, the regulation of emotion, its deficiency is
cowardice and excess is foolhardiness.
Strengths: gives you a base to make decisions, helps you be happier from being a better person, gives you goals to
strive towards, everyone has at least one, opportunity to grow, human centred ethical system.
Weaknesses: impossible to achieve all of them, different for everyone, doesn’t take the situation into account, may
prioritise different virtues, quite outdated and elitist, virtues are culturally relative, hard to apply to modern issues
