Outline the Concepts of Situation Ethics

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Situation Ethics is the teleological theory which aims to bring the greater good, it’s similar to the idea of utilitarianism which was also aiming for the greater good for the most amount of people. Situation Ethics looks at the intentions instead of the outcome. This is the opposite of the deontological ethics which focuses on the intrinsic rightness or wrongness of actions. The theory would also acknowledge the consequences of the actions, not the actions themselves, therefore it suggests that the action would be ‘good’ if it brings out a good consequence. Situation Ethics runs on the idea of agapeistic love which is the Christian concept of unconditional love, which is how the greater good works. Joseph Fletcher during the 1960’s was being opposed to be a radical Christian ethic. He argued that Agape is the only guiding principle in morality. This was taken from the golden rule, therefore situation ethics plays a large part in the religion Christianity. This act rejects legalistic (which is where the law comes from) for example this ethical theory could be for example ‘The Divine Command Theory’, however, it also undermines the idea of antinomian ethics (where there’s no law.) This means that the idea of Situation Ethics doesn’t follow any laws, it carries its own laws, only focuses on the consequences. It’s suggested that the ethics should be situational, which is the situation is based on itself and what should be done at the time is required, therefore no thinking should be occur. Situation Ethics works around the four working principles, these being: pragmatic, relativism, positivism and personalism. Firstly, the pragmatic principle is the idea that moral actions must work or achieve some realistic goal, therefore the actions can’t try and achieve something that isn’t possible, it should be targeted to achieve the best but also something that is
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