Situation Ethics

Situation Ethics is a Christian ethical theory that was developed by Joseph Fletcher. Stating that other moral principles can be overruled in some situations if love is the final consequence of an action. Situation ethics underlines the importance of the individual in making moral decisions. Joseph Fletcher developed the idea of making a moral decision for a particular situation. He wrote the book 'Situation Ethics' in 1996 explaining his theory. He stated that it was better that a person made a decision on what moral course of action they should follow rather than follow a set of unwritten rules they hardly know anything about. He believed that God doesn't want us to follow and conform to rules like a robot.

An important concept of situation ethics is that it contains no universal/ moral rules or rights. This states that situation ethics are not laws and do not have to be continuously followed. The issue of right and wrong means that there is an increase in the situation being relative. What may be seen as the most loving outcome in a situation may not have the same outlook in different religions and cultures. This however is helpful to some extent. The lack of universal guidelines reinforces that the theory is more flexible. This is an important concept because it can apply to a wide range of situations in various parts of the world. Such as how different cultures may have guidelines that they ask others to abide by to respect their culture when entering said country. The loving thing would be to abide by there request but it could also be seen as loving to make others abide by the ways of western cultures also. 

Another important concept of situation ethics is that it is takes into consideration personalism. This states that man comes first in any situation and rules follow after. It details how it is more important to do right by other people than to follow religious rules at the expense of people. This gives a realistic feel to the theory and also provides the chance of each situation to become personal. Theories such as utilitarianism are developed on a broader level and do not depict how each situation is different, includes different aspects and emotions/feelings towards that particular situation. Rules cannot always work in every situation some situations such as the aborting of a foetus that was conceived out of rape. In some countries rules say that abortions are not legalised. The loving thing to do would be to abort the foetus as the birth could cause psychological damage to the mother or worse the child could grow up receiving the same psychological damage. The importance of personalism is shown in this example and how rules being placed second can be more beneficial. 

Situation ethics carefully fits in with the teachings of Jesus. The phrase “love thy neighbour” carefully depicts situation ethics in a biblical way. Jesus constantly went against the following of rules to help another being during his time on earth. To and extent he did the most loving thing to do by doing this which is what situation ethics revolves around. Positivism is a positive choice made during a situation that freely chooses to believe in agape love. Agape love being love that is unconditional and the word agape is Greek for love. Christian teachings and Christian love link into situation ethics to assist in making situational decisions where faith is rooted into for Christians but it also allows room for secular beings to make a decision. Following the teachings of Jesus is an important concept of situation ethics because it shows closely how people of the Christian faith want to try as hard to stay in line with what God has set for them such as the rule “love thy neighbour”. 

Another key feature of Situation ethics are the six working principles. The working principles are; Love only is always good, Love is the only norm, Love and justice are the same, love is justice distributed, Love is not liking and always wills the neighbour’s good, Love is the only means. These principles contribute as an important feature because Love is intrinsically valuable, it has inherent worth. Love is good. Nothing else has intrinsic value but ‘it gains or acquires its value only because it happens to help people (thus being good) or to hurt people (thus being bad)’. A lie is not intrinsically wrong. It is wrong if it harms people, but may sometimes be right. For the situationist, what makes the lie right is its loving purpose it assesses the outcome of the action as the moral worth, which means that anything may be done as long as it brings about the most loving outcome.

Although containing many key and important feature there are many criticism which undermine the theory. 

One way in which the concepts are undermined is that because there are no moral or universal laws it is hard to define love. Each individual would have their own definition of what love is and what the most loving thing to do would be. The use of a universal law allows a way for everyone to be able to communicate and decide how to act during a situation that is more suitable for the majority of society. Also situation ethics is an unprincipled relativist system; it allows room for any action to occur because of how subjective the theory is people would naturally disagree about it.

Situation ethics is also a consequentialist theory. The difficulty that occurs when trying to predict the future can cause some trouble. Nobody can exactly tell the future and the outcome could change for any situation because we cannot define what may happen. It is also unreliable to base a decision on love because everyone’s view can be different. This critiques how situation ethics involves Personalism.

In situation ethics you treat every situation differently, taking no account of previous experience. Some have said that this means that you cannot hold a consistent moral approach and you are in danger of missing the bigger picture. William Barclay says that we need the guidance of law and an understanding of past experiences. Barclay also said that Fletcher was rather optimistic about human nature. Saying that if we all made our own moral decisions we would essentially be selfish. This undermines situation ethics because instead of religiously following the rules of love some people may start to follow rules.

Also the Christian concept in situation ethics may not appeal to everybody. People such as atheists would maybe disagree with how the teachings of Jesus entwine with situation ethics. Their faith or lack of may have them believe in something different and could be why it may not appeal to everybody. This critiques how the theory can apply to everyone.

Although there are many important concepts of situation ethics such as, how it incorporates the teachings of Jesus and how universal laws are also not incorporated into the theory. All these important concepts contribute to making situation ethics a theory that can be used in the 21st century because of its more updated concepts unlike theories such as utilitarianism.However, the theory has many critiques which could allow the theory to not apply to a variety of people. Situation ethics can be seen as a rule and rules/ laws can always be broken. There is nothing to say that people should break the theory. Also the theory allows people to put themselves before and this can cause people to be selfish and go against the theory.

SO