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Situationism and Moral Behavior

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178 views13 pages

Situationism and Moral Behavior

Uploaded by

decostoninamarie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Situationism and

Moral Behavior
01“The morality
02 of an03action
depends on the situation.”
Introduction The team Ice breaker

04 05 06
Analysis
Joseph Fletcher
Digital Brainstorm
(1963)
Conclusion
Key Questions

1. Is moral behavior about following rules or


working things out for ourselves?

2. Is abortion for health reasons just as bad as


abortion for convenience?

3. When deciding what is right, should the


situation be taken into account?
Joseph Fletcher

an American professor who founded the theory of Situation


ethics in the 1960s
a pioneer in bioethics and was involved in the areas of abortion,
infanticide, euthanasia, and cloning
was a priest who later renounced his belief in God and became
an atheist
Task
A rich man asked a lovely young woman if she would spend the night with him.
She said ‘NO’. He then asked if she would do it for a 100,000 pounds. She said
‘YES’!

1. Is it wrong to have sex for money:

a.) to survive?
b.) to fund a life-saving operation for a friend or relative?
c.) for luxury purposes?

2. Why might your answers for a, b and c differ?


Situation Ethics

one single rule - the rule of agape. This love is


not merely an emotion but involves doing
what is best for the other person,
unconditionally.
Situation Ethics

the situationist enters into moral dilemma


with the principles and rules of his or her
community.
however, they are prepared to set these
rules aside in the situation if LOVE seems
better served by doing so.
Situation Ethics

“The situationist follows a moral law or violates it


according to love’s need.” (Fletcher)

For the situationist, all moral decisions are hypothetical.


They depend on what best serves love.

They don’t say that ‘giving to charity is a good thing’. They


only say that giving to charity is a good thing if.......’

Lying is justified if love is better served by it.


An insane murderer who asks you
the whereabouts of his next
victim.......
SIX FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
( JOSEPH FLETCHER)
Only one thing is intrinsically good,
namely love: nothing else at all.
The ruling norm of Christian Decision is
love: nothing else.
love and justice are the same, for love is
justice distributed, nothing else.
6 FUNDAMENTAL
Love wills the neighbor’s good, whether
PRINCIPLES we like him or not.
Only the end justifies the means, nothing
else.
Love’s decisions are made situationally,
not prescriptively.
Evaluating Situation Ethics

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

It requires very little (if any) theological


It is not easy to determine all the
assumptions - it in some ways suits our
consequences of an action.
multicultural, multi-faith age.

It seems at least possible that Situation


It is practical. It does not demanding on those Ethics could be used to justify all kinds of
who would follow it. actions that are simply inexcusable.
Genocide? Child abuse?
Thank you
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