How useful is Joseph Fletcher’s “Situation Ethics” as a guide to human behaviour? Essay

Rudolf Bultmann claimed that messiah Christ had no morals and for Love thy neighbour as thyself. This is what the Angli depose Joseph Fletcher based his theory of office moral philosophy on. Fletcher opposed the idea of Legalistic and antinomian Ethics.Legalistic ethics is where there atomic number 18 absolute radiation diagrams to what should and should non be done. Fletcher said that Legalism couldnt accommodate the overlookions to the rule and that disavowing a particular aspect of the law of nature than you surely mustiness reject it all. For example the law Do not kill may contain more laws to allow killing in self defence, killing in war, killing unborn babies etc. and doing this contradicts the law in the first place.antinomian Ethics means against law and people using this approach do not prevail by an ethical system at all. Fletcher is against this not only because it is unprincipled but also on the basis of existentialist ethics, which argues that reality i s composed of singular event and moments in time and Antinomian ethics follows no predictable direction from one circumstance to an new(prenominal). slur ethics is based sodding(a)ly on agape love for all. That e real(prenominal) ethical decision we make should be made on the presumptuousness that the pole justifies the means, and that the about loving action with a slight motive is the best one. He claims that Jesus Sermon on the backing should be our moral code rather than the Old Testaments Ten Commandments. Jesus ethics of love thy neighbour as thyself washbowl be related to e very ethical dilemma, whether modern or old.Jesus said nothing about birth control, large or dinky families, childlessness, homosexuality, masturbation, fornication, premarital intercourse, sterilisation, artificial insemination, abortion, sex, foreplay, petting and courtship. Whether any form of sex (Hetero, gay or Auto) is good or evil dep finales on whether love is in full served. (Fletcher qu oted by Jenkins)Fletcher pointed out that even Jesus broke Jewish law if love was better served by doing so.Christ Jesus abolished the law with its commandments and efficacious claims. Ephesians 213-15Christians of all denominations squirt use Fletchers theory, which is an advantage as religious disputes and anger between the Protestants and Catholics is such a divide in the Christian religion. speckle ethics could help break d stimulate the barriers and connect a faith once again, as situation ethics primary(prenominal) principle is love.Fletcher developed six fundamental principles. These ar1) No actions are intrinsically right or wrong. Nothing is good in and of itself except for love. Actions are good if they help people and bad if they dont. hotshot undersidenot expect to live responsibly with moral absolutes.2) Good actions should not be done for reward (E.g. experiencing a good feeling or seek altruistic deeds in return) but should be done for their own sake. Jesus and Paul taught love as the highest principle above the Law.3) evaluator is love at work in the community.4) Love is practical and not selective. We should show love to all, even our enemies. Christian love is unconditional.5) Love is the end never a means to something else.6) Humans have the responsibility of freedom. They are not bound by any Law. With this comes the responsibility to do the almost loving thing in every situation.Fletcher claims that it is a mistake to generalise. You cant say Is it ever right to lie to your family? The answer must be, I dont know, give me an example. A concrete situation is needed, not a generalisation. It all depends may well be the parole of the bunkist. (Vardy & Grosch p.130)thither are many benefits to Situation Ethics. The Bible does not allot many modern topics such as abortion, artificial insemination etc and situation Ethics allows us to work out which is the most loving action with the most loving end. It is also true to the Gospe l representation of Jesus and what rules he lived by rather than living by the Old Testament or Jewish laws such as the Ten Commandments, which Jesus came to amend.Situation ethics is flexible, practical and allows for certain actions if the motive is pure and loving for others. It allows the evaluation of actions to have the least wrong out of two wrong actions, which a legalist cannot do.There are however many criticisms which mostly come down to the caper of knowing what the most loving action is. As we cannot predict actions of other or even actions of our own, it is difficult to know whether the most loving end will actually come or whether an unseen factor may emerge and change the outcome. Selfish people also may eddy situation ethics to suit themselves.Agape love is only an lofty to follow as closely as possible not to live by, as it is difficult to see things from an objective point of view. How can we be sure that an action comes out of Agape? Who is to decide whether an action is pure by motive? Can God only decide this at Judgement Day? Another very important criticism is that it can be argued that Hitler was killing Jews out of love for the Arian race and the future of the world. Does Situation ethics allow for such actions that have been dubbed Wrong, and thats that. such as the Holocaust, September the Eleventh and the Bali bombing?Although the arguments for situation ethics are very convincing and useful for everyday life, the criticisms cannot be ignored, as they are very plausible and important for world issues and topics.A way that considers both(prenominal) Situation ethics and legalism and is somewhere in between is Proportionalism. Proportionalists take moral rules can only be overridden if there is a proportionate reason in a particular situation. This includes both Natural law (killing, stealing, lying, cheating) and the Situational ethics view. Proportionalists believe that these laws should be adhered to unless there are good re asons not to. This allows for flexibility and a certain amount of relativism whilst still using the fundamental aspects of the Bible.An evil standardised pain, death or mutilation is, in itself, pre-moral or non-moral, and should never be describe as moral. It is the act as a whole, which is right or wrong, and it is the person, or the person in his or her acting, who is morally good or morally bad. (Bernard Hoose quoted by Vardy & Grosch)I conclude that Fletchers situation ethics is highly useful for Christians in everyday life for all the reasons above. besides I do believe that there has to be a equaliser and in my opinion it seems that Proportionalism is the best and most moral route to follow. It contains principles of both Situation ethics and Legalism and seems to make the most sense.