Download Starter: Get thinking…Central issue

Starter: Get thinking…Central issue
Has God laid down
firm and unalterable
rules or do human
beings need to make
their own moral
decisions?
Remind me about one mistake!!
Homework
• Identify the different
sacrificial aspects of
the story of Mrs
Bergmeier
• Due:
• Mrs. Bergmeier was separated from her family at the
Battle of the Bulge and imprisoned in the Ukraine.
During those months she learned that her husband (also a
Prisoner Of War) had been released from another camp
and had located all the children in Berlin. There were two
reasons why the Russians would release a prisoner: the
need for extensive medical treatment or pregnancy. She
persuaded a German guard to impregnate her and was
returned to Germany as a liability. The family was re-knit
and they all loved her and the child for it.
• (From ‘Situation Ethics’, Fletcher)
•
S.E. Summary so far…
• As reaction against what Fletcher saw as a paternalistic
and imposed morality of traditional Christianity, he
developed Situation Ethics which…
• Rejects Natural Law approach to ethics which formulates
rules and then applies them to individual situations
• He argued against the deductive method of ethics and
suggested that individual situations were paramount
• He believed that there should be a single moral principle –
that you should do whatever is the most loving thing
• Ethical rules were of secondary importance;they might
guide a person, but should not dictate right from wrong
Moving forward…
• So, ultimately, it was
not the rules that
counted but the
principle of _ _ _ _
• Thus where _ _ _ _
demanded that a
conventional moral
should be broken…
Finish the sentence!
Four presumptions (also known as
four working principles)
•Pragmatism
•Relativism
•Positivism
•Personalism
What do you
think these
words mean?
How do they
relate to
Situation Ethics?
What is love?
There are a number of different
Greek words for love, as the
Greek language distinguishes
how the word is used including
eros, philia, and agape.
What different types of love can you
think of?
.
Agape: Christian love
•
The verb appears in the New Testament
describing, amongst other things, the
relationship between Jesus and the
beloved disciple. In biblical literature, its
meaning and usage is illustrated by selfsacrificing, giving love to all--both friend
and enemy. It is used in Matthew 22:39,
"Love your neighbour as yourself," and in
John 15:12, "This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved
you,“
•
Christians are not required to simply love
others, but to do so to the extent that they
sacrifice part of themselves in doing so
The 6 fundamental principles &
Christian love
First
proposition
Only the end justifies the
means, nothing else
Fifth
proposition
Love’s decisions are
made situationally, not
prescriptively
Second
Proposition
Love and justice are the
same, for justice is love
distributed , nothing else
Third
proposition
Love will the neighbour’s
good, whether we like
him or not
Sixth
proposition
The ruling norm of
Christian decision is love:
nothing else
Fourth
proposition
Only one thing is
intrinsically good; namely
love: nothing else at all
Pragmatism
A practical or success posture. The
proposed course of action must
work, and must work towards the
end, which is love
Relativism
• Situation ethics is relativistic: ‘the Situationist avoids
words like ‘never’ and ‘perfect’ and ‘always’ and
‘complete’ as he avoids the plague, as he avoids
‘absolutely’ (Fletcher, 1963).
• There are no fixed rules that must always be obeyed.
• However, nor is it a free for all!
• Fletcher maintains that all decisions must be relative
to Christian love.
• Situation ethics ‘relativizes the absolute, it does not
absolutize the relative’ (Fletcher 1963).
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.