1. Objectives in this unit
To have an understanding how situation ethics differs from traditional approaches to moral decision – making
To be able to explain both the assumptions underpinning situation ethics and the principles by which the approach is applied
To have explored the application of situation ethics to moral dilemmas
To be able to identify key weaknesses and strengths in the theory and application of situation ethics

2. Key philosopher: Joseph Fletcher
The morality of an action depends on the situation
American Professor
1905 – 1991
Founder of theory of situation ethics
‘Situation Ethics, the New Morality’ 1966

3. Which of the following are not associated with the 1960s?
Peace
Love
Excess
Abstinence
Social
Revolution
Anti-War
Swinging
Conforming
The Beatles
Flamboyant
Permissive
Rebelling
Exciting
Restrictive
Experimental
Freedom
Monogamous
Rock’n’Roll
Sex
Subversive
Drugs
Elvis
Dull ?

4. Key questions
Is moral behaviour about following rules or working things out for ourselves?
Are there unbreakable laws to govern moral behaviour, or should we make our own moral decisions?
What should I do?

5. Key questions
Are there ever situations when you should ignore established moral rules?
When deciding what is right, how much weight should be given to the actual people involved and the consequences the moral judgement brings them?

6. Joseph Fletcher & his taxi cab anecdote…
Presidential campaign
Cab Driver: ‘I and my father and grandfather before me and their fathers, have always been straight-ticket Republicans’
JF’s friend: ‘I’m a republican too, I take it that means you will vote for Senator So-and-So’
Cab Driver: ‘No, there are times when a man has to push his principles aside and do the right thing’

7. A radical Christian ethical approach
THE KEY IDEA…
The law of love is the ultimate law because it is the negation of law; it is absolute because it concerns everything concrete… The absolutism of love is its power to go into the concrete situation, to discover what is demanded by the predicament of the concrete to which it turns. Therefore, love can never become fanatical in a fight for the absolute, or cynical under the impact of the relative.
Tillich, 1951, p152
There is only one ultimate and invariable duty, and its formula is ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ How to do this is another question but this is the whole of moral duty.
Temple, 1923, p206

8. Joseph Fletcher ‘Situation Ethics’
Rudolph Bultmann who argued that Jesus had no ethics apart from ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ the ultimate duty
‘there is no one ethical system that can claim to be Christian’
Bishop Robinson

9. ‘Christian ethics’ Old Testament ethics New Testament ethics
Roman Catholic Tradition based on Aquinas’natural law ethics
The Protestant tradition, which includes situation ethics

10. Indecent Proposal (1993) ethics Antinomian ethics Situation ethics
Is it wrong to have sex for money:
a. To survive?
b. For luxury
purchases?
c. To fund a life-saving
operation for a friend or relative?
Why might your answers for a, b and c differ?
ethics
Antinomian ethics
Situation ethics

11. 3 kinds of ethical theory
Legalistic
Ethics
Antinomian
ethics
Extrinsic
Not part of the essential nature of someone or something; coming or operating from outside
The view that there are no moral principles or rules at all
An ethical system that contains rules for every situation and/or the association of doing good with simply following those rules

12. Time has gone for today…
Write one thing you have learned today…
This could be a concept you are now familiar with.
Or, a new key term in your vocabulary.
A theory that you are more confident in understanding.
Developed an academic/exam skill.
If nothing, be honest. But say why you feel nothing.