POSSIBLE ESSAY TITLES:
‘Situation ethics is too individualistic to be useful’ Discuss (40)
The strengths of situation ethics outweigh the weaknesses (40)
Situation ethics is not legalistic enough to make it useful (40)
To what extent are the principles of Situation ethics practical (40)
Critically asses the view that Situation ethics has no significant weaknesses (40)
, GENERAL SITUATION ETHICS QUESTION
INTRO:
What is situation ethics:
- A relativist ethical theory created by Jeremy Bentham which takes a consequentialist view that no actions
are intrinsically right or wrong
- Has an absolutist principle- to do the most loving thing
- Fletchers anti-war stance in the radical movements of the late 1950s led him to establish an ethical
theory based on what he considered the most important aspect of Christian morality- the law of love
My line of argument:
- Although I see merit in Fletchers ethics, and his intentions can be praised- the weaknesses lie in the
flexible and subjective nature of his theory as well as this overly optimistic view on human nature