Situation Ethics Flashcards

Revise Situation Ethics: key terms & concepts for
AQA Religious Studies AS level: Religion & Ethics

120125630	Agape	Disinterested, selfless, unconditional love - the love exhibited by Jesus according to Fletcher	0
120125631	Legalism	Law-based approach criticised by Fletcher for tendency to become cold & inflexible e.g Kantian ethics or Catholic Natural Law	1
120125632	Antinomianism	Lawlessness & spontaneity - the other extreme to legalism - for Fletcher goes too far & provides insufficient moral guidance	2
120125633	The four working principles	Relativism; pragmatism; positivism; personalism - used in making moral decisions	3
120125634	Six fundamental principles	Six ways of defining & explaining what Situationists mean by 'agape'	4
120125635	Pragmatism	One of the four working principles: states that an action must 'work' (i.e. produce a loving outcome) in order to be right	5
120125636	Personalism	One of the four working principles: states that an action must put people & loving outcomes before rules in order to be right	6
120125637	Positivism	One of the four working principles: states that an action must accept the law of love as the most important law governing human behaviour	7
120125638	Relativism	One of the four working principles: states that an action must avoid words like 'always' & 'never' & take each situation on its own merits because "situations alter rules"	8
120125639	Proportionalism	The principle that Christian moral laws should be upheld unless there are better (proportional)reasons to set them aside	9