Finish the sentence: Love is ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Write down what you think it means for an action to be loving? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is ? .. In English we only have ONE word for LOVE that is often understood to mean ___________ love. In Greek they have ________________words for LOVE... ______ – Passion, desire, romantic love. STORGE – Love for your_______. PHILIA – Love for your _______. _______ – The greatest love. What do you think is meant by the ‘greatest love’?

AGAPE The greatest is - ___________ love Loving others as we love ___________, both friend and ___________. _____ based on a feeling but on _____________

____________Ethics is: Based on AGAPE love - For the situationist, all moral decisions are _______________ - They depend on what best serves ________ love.

For example: 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.

Wrote a book called Situation Ethics in 1966 It originated with ___________________ who… Was a Christian pastor Wrote a book called Situation Ethics in 1966

He said that: A person should only obey the ________and the Church if that teaching results in the ________________thing to do.

He also said... ______ should be the only consideration when making a _____ decision. A _______ decision is one that aims to do THE MOST LOVING THING.

He said that we should base decisions on __________ commandment to ‘____ ___________________’. This allows for _____________ and the chance to ________ morals to all situations.

The one who believes in _________________enters into the moral dilemma with the ______________ _________________ of his or her community. However, they are prepared to _____ these rules _______ in the situation if LOVE seems better served by doing so.

QUESTION: Can humans act out of unconditional love for each other, or are they selfish?

Is the right thing to do always the most loving thing? SITUATION ETHICS Is the right thing to do always the most loving thing? On your own or with a partner, come up with two plausible examples whereby killing a human being could serve love. Give a good argument for each. Be prepared to discuss with the class.

Strengths of Situation Ethics Christian system – seems to be consistent with the ___________________________________. Flexible _________________ system – in enables people to make tough decisions. It emphasises love (agape) – surely ____________ agrees that’s a _____________________. It avoids conflicts of ________, as one experiences in absolutist systems. Where moral rules collide, Situation Ethics gives a way of _________________: love.

Weaknesses of Situation Ethics Can humans, _________ beings, be trusted to act in Love? Even believers in Christ, saved by grace, retain their ________________ in this world. The situationist’s “love” is purely _____________; he decides what love is in any given __________ That is like suggesting that two football teams play a game in which there will be no rules except “fairness.” But, fairness according to whose judgment? The Cowboys? The Forty-niners? The referees? The spectators? The sports writers?

Weaknesses of Situation Ethics Situation ethics removes ________ from the throne as the moral sovereign of the universe, and substitutes _________ in his place. Finally, situationism assumes a sort of infallible ________________ that is able to always precisely predict what the most “_______” course of action is. For instance, the theory contends that lying, adultery, murder, etc., could be “_________” if done within the context of love. Yet who is able to _____________ the ____________________ of such acts, and so determine, in advance, what is the “loving” thing to do? Consider the following scenario………..

Weaknesses of Situation Ethics A young woman, jilted by her lover, is in a state of great depression. A married man, with whom she works, decides to have an affair with her in order to comfort her. Some, like Fletcher, would argue that what he did might well have been a noble deed, for the man acted out of concern for his friend. The man’s wife learned of his adulterous adventure, could not cope with the trauma, and eventually committed suicide. One of his sons, disillusioned by the immorality of his father and the death of his mother, began a life of crime, and finally was imprisoned for murder. Another son became a drunkard and was killed in an automobile accident that also claimed the lives of a mother and her two children. Now, who will contend that that initial act of infidelity was the “loving” thing to do?