Situation Ethics

Robinson said, “The Situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love’s need”

Situation Ethics is a normative, deontological, relative ethical theory.

Who said, “There is only one ultimate and invariable duty, and its formula is “Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. How to do this is another question, but this is the whole of moral duty”

Complete the sentence: Fletcher argued that there should be a single and simple principle, in the light of which individuals could work out what was right for their particular circumstances, and the situations in which they found themselves. He claimed that the only absolute rule was that of ?.

The ancient Greek language had four words to describe different types of love: [blank_start]agape[blank_end], [blank_start]phileo[blank_end], [blank_start]eros[blank_end], and storge. Only two of these Greek words are used in the New Testament, agape (self-sacrificial love) and phileo (brotherly love). A third type of love, eros, expresses sexual love, but the word is nowhere to be found in the New Testament. The fourth Greek word for love is storge, which relates to natural, familial love such as the love between a parent and child. In the New Testament, the negative form of storge is used twice. Astorgos means “devoid of natural or instinctive affection, without affection to kindred.” Romans 1:31 describes sinful humanity as having “no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.” The Greek word translated as “no love” is astorgos. The other instance of this word is found in 2 Timothy 3:3, where it is translated “without love.” Paul warns that one mark of the “terrible times in the last days” (verse 1) is that people will lack natural love for their own families. In Romans 12:10 we find an interesting compound: philostorgos is translated as “be devoted.” The word combines philos and storge and means “to cherish one’s kindred.” Believers in Christ, children of the same heavenly Father, are to “be devoted to one another in love.” As part of God’s family, we should show loving affection toward each other and be prone to love. Philostorgus is used only once in the New Testament, and that’s in Romans 12:10. Agape: “…goodwill at work in partnership with reason” in seeking the “neighbour’s best interest with a careful eye to all the factors in the situation”. Agape is concern for others. Fletcher uses the term ‘best interest’, so this seems much the same as Singer’s utilitarianism. We act out of love for others, trying to do the best to serve their interests.

Deux ex machine means ...

Are these statements correct? For Bultmann, religion was about a person’s ‘ultimate concern’ – In the end, there is something higher than the morality of obeying rules, and whether it is one’s ‘ultimate concern’ or simply an absolute principle of love, it is the striving after some transcendent value that makes an action morally right. Tillich – Jesus had no set of finite laws or rules.

Select the statements which are correct.

What are the 4 presumptions of Situation ethics?

Identify the 6 principles of Situation ethics.

Conscience is not used in Situation Ethics because ...