21st Century Situational Ethics

twenty- early Century Situational refineeous philosophyAlthough the term Situational obedient motive l unrivaled more(prenominal) seems to deem the appearance _or_ semblance in Joseph Fletchers record book named Situation morals The New monishrent exampleity in 1966, partial and similar ideas of postal serviceal honourable motive hurl been in the mind of some others ahead before. Such as result be Durant Drake that make The New Morality, Emil Brunner with his promulgated work Divine Imperative as sound as Reinhold Niebuhr with his Moral Man and Immoral Society. During the same year where Fletcher published his book, John Robinson published his book named Honest to God. Although as equ in ally popular as Fletchers book, it was Fletchers book that seemed simpler and less governanceatic. In 1952, The Roman Catholic Sacred Congregation of the consecrate Office labeled this new tenet as the new morality.Pros and cons of situational ethicsSimilar to other respectabl e normals, Situational ethics has its pros and cons as well. To make things simple, compriseing(a) atomic number 18 the pros and cons of the Fletchers Model of Situation ethical motive that is based upon Christian get along-Advantages-Situational moral philosophy is soulal. Since Situational Ethics is based on the t separatelyings that honorable decisions should be make based on flexible guidelines it demonstrates sensitivity towards circumstances, context, particularity and cultural traditions besides, it has besides when a single grassroots principle to adhere to, crawl in, so sight put forward freely, easily, and creatively make their decisions in the various situations among the numerous alternatives available. Thus, this honourable surmisal may seem attr coiffeive to the m whatever individua proclivityic graciouse beings endure in this new(a) era.Situational Ethics is specific. In Situational Ethics moral decisions be do on a case-by-case basis as in ther e is no fixed solution to various cases. Therefore, decisions do depend on the situation one is in and the solution to each situation is unique. (why is this peachy? Justify to a greater extent)Situational Ethics some heftyness. applaud is conjectural to be a good element and Situational Ethics teaches that right acts atomic number 18 those which are targeted to promote the well being of tidy sum ( venerate). According to Situational Ethics, the well being of people arse be promoted by maximizing charitable offbeat and happiness that would be beneficial to individuals or a society.Disadvantages- cacoethes is vague and abstract. Although theoretically Situational Ethics is based on Christian love, simply the term love in this principle does non have any definite meaning ein truth individual is unique by him or herself and every of them feels and interpret love in very different shipway which may be due to different living environments, up bring forthing methods, geneti cs, and endings. If everyone was to employment Situational Ethics, it might lead to confusion and therefore very inconsistent outcomes. For example, cardinal very dissimilar decisions might be do in cardinal very similar situations by two different people because their loves are not the same.Situational Ethics is very subjective and perceptional-based. Love is a character reference of emotion and not well-nigh kind of reasoning element because emotions are very individual-based, it is im practicable for two persons to feel and express love in exactly the same way. It is generally agreed by ethicists that any ethical theory should be based importantly on reasons. So how push aside such a subjective-based Situational Ethics be tenable whence in twenty-first century? Definitely people entrust involve some kind of biasness due to personal feelings when making decisions under such ethical principle thus, fairness or justice empennagenot be upheld in Situational Ethics.Love b y Fletcher was Self-Contradicting. According to Fletcher, he based his model upon the basic principle, love as interpreted in the new Testament of Bible, God is Love. This narrative makes Situational Ethics reasonable at first glance, but actually in the very next chapter of the same Bible, there is another(prenominal) statement says so, This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. This latter statement is encouraging its intrustrs to follow Divine Command Laws, is it not? Due to this, it makes Fletcher together with its Situational Ethics to be less convincing.Situational Ethics is difficult to implement. Like Act Consequentialism, Situation Ethics is not a practical ethical theory in a society as each situation is so different from another that if this constitution was to be implemented, then when a person faced a moral dilemma, he or she would need a hearable essence of time to consider what was the take up put through th at could bring out the nigh love. Besides, it is much very difficult to determine what are the boundaries of every situation as well (like when did the situation begin and end). Furthermore, such ethical system that is so relativistic and has barely one basic principle often produces very inconsistent results and thus is very challenging to be taught to the young generations too.Situational Ethics may be misused by some in names of love. Based on Situation Ethics, any particular action does not have an inherent moral value as its good or bad depends on the results or the consequences of the action. Therefore, it seems that situation ethics allows a person to carry out acts that are normally classified as bad, such as killing and robbing, if those acts could be justified to be the aspect of love by the committer.To summarize up, Situational Ethics is far too impractical in its own sense and possesses too many obvious flaws. In this 21st century where moral dilemmas simply becom e more and more complex, this ethical theory, if applied universally, go forth only produce more mental unsoundness and dis found in this world. In shortstop, it will definitely not be the best ethical principle to follow. To further advocate our standing, we have continue to do research and found out some problems and issues regarding Situational Ethics.Q What are some of the issues or problems with Situational Ethics?Issues and Problems of Situational EthicsIs there a right modular of value in determining the good?In the Fletcher model, moral agents are asked to calculate which action in a particular situation will produce the greatest amount of goods (love) for the greatest number of people. However, this method understructurenot be applied without some standards of value to aid figuring out the good and bad effects and then in balancing them without clarifying the proper standards, what good deeds ought to be done in the situation pratnot be determined. Besides, Fletcher came to say that he has said enough when he identified adult male well-being as the standard of value. As an example, he has substituted human eudaemonia for pleasure as the standard of evaluation of twain ends and effects, impliedly stating that human welfare is the ultimate love that discount be given to other people in any situation. However, it is not clear that Fletchers appeal to human welfare will suffice.Will other religious people and atheists be convert to follow Situational Ethics?As has been mentioned before, the main source of the theory of Situational Ethics is the Christians holy bible. Its original basic principle, love which has been interpreted by Fletcher was for the most part influenced by its own faith in Christianity. For example, Fletcher saw love as the sanctum sanctorum Spirit for himself. But what does Holy Spirit mean for other religious people? Do atheists even recognize the existence of Holy Spirit? Indeed, it is true that love exists in any socie ty and culture and so non-Christian people can actually apply this ethical theory in their life as well however, its Christianity origin may deter part if not all of these people from trusting in this ethical theory because it does seem to have some biasness in its interpretation of love.3. depose people always act out of love and suppress their self-interests?This is one of the main problems that relates to the practicality of Situational Love Ethics. According to Fletcher, the love he suggested should mean the largest contingent care of the well being of others however, is it really possible for all human beings to set their self-interests aside and be as objective as possible when analyzing each situation? As mentioned, love is a kind of emotion and everyone feels and expresses it distinctively from another. The usual loves people give out are for families and friends. So what if in the specific moral dilemma context, someone a person loves a lot is involved? Can he or she real ly willing to sacrifice that important person for the sake of the majority and act in the most loving way?4. Do ends always relieve the mean?Situational Ethics is very similar to Consequentialism in the way that both(prenominal) emphasize the prediction of the future and the end consequences that could happen, and then only find out on the action that could bring out the most desired outcome. As such, Situational Ethics shares the very same problem with Consequentialism as well will any mean used to achieve the end be excusable? In many circumstances, some living beings might need to be sacrificed for the sake of the majority. For example, in order to find out the most effectual medicine to cure AIDS which affects millions of people, can scientists be allowed to use the fast-paced way (use selected human beings to conduct experiments) to achieve that goal? These scientists might consider that as the most loving way to act because they are onerous to save millions of people i n the end by tho risking a few human lives. But can this really be justifiable?5. People prefer to have a more Secure surroundSituational Ethics consists of only one and only despotic basic principle to guide the general population thus, it seems to abolish all the existing rules and laws that exist in every culture. If people were allowed to break the rigid rules and laws when they found that their actions could be justified in names of love (or some other absolute norms), werent those laws and rules be unenforceable anymore? This is definitely going to be a very risky ethical theory to apply because in this 21st century, where the societies and human populations are so complex, without definite laws and rules, people will only feel confused and chaos will happen everywhere. Thus, such a relativistic moral system seems not to be a wear out choice if compared to some other more absolutistic ethical systems. trump Ethical Principle/ SystemQ What do you think would be the best ethi cal principle for your assemblage to follow?A After discussion, our group comes to agree that an ethical theory that combines the Confucius fair play Ethics with the authors (Thiroux and Krasemann) human-centred Ethics will be the best for us to follow.After discussion, our group members have reached the agreement that Confucius Virtue Ethics combined with the Ethics textbooks authors Humanitarian Ethics will be the best moral system for our group to believe in and bore, mainly because of the fact that its main purpose is to create worldly concern that implant good moral characters in themselves, or in short is to create virtuous human beings.In this 21st century, many ethicists have come to believe that humans have become more morally corrupted and morality is dying or even dead. In our modern world, people have tried to build up a moral society mainly through the act of establishing various rules and laws, but woefully that has been proven to be pretty ineffective thus, both rule consequentialism and non-consequentialism principles will not be the best ethical principle to follow. In order to resolve this problem, Virtue Ethics is suggested to be applied universally because its main aim is to construct human beings that are truly ethical and keen from within, not relying on outside forces such as rigid rules and laws. Virtue Ethics requires its believers to act virtuously and make it a habit they practice what they do because they realize those acts are morally right and not because they are forced to. If everyone was to follow Virtue Ethics, then the dream of creating a moral society will be more likely to be realized. earthly concern are kind beings who do not live in isolation generally, they are dependent among each other. Thus, Virtue Ethics is advantageous as well in this case. Confucius Virtue Ethics has 4 main elements in total De, Shu, Li and Ren, all of which are crucial to achieving social harmony. De means the virtue acts to be practiced by individuals so as to bring the great virtue to the people surrounding. Shu teaches people to reciprocate among each other, suggesting that scattering of justice is to be practiced. Li provides guidance to act appropriately in different contexts and to respect others, especially the higher authorities and therefore contributes to social stability. Lastly, Ren tries to compromise individuals interests with that of societys, in which enhances human interrelationships and promotes humane behavior for example, it includes the Silver recipe (not to do to others what you do not wish to be done upon yourself), which can be used to test whether an action should be taken or not in any particular situation. In overall, as you can see, Confucius Virtue Ethics is very humanistic and social-based, which makes it seems very ideal in our current diversified and complex societal world. For example, if leaders in this 21st century were to follow Confucius Virtue Ethics, then their followers wi ll be more likely to show loyalty to them because the leaders are doing right and are concerned almost their respective followers instead of merely using coercive or tyranny methods.One of the basic assumptions made by Thiroux and Krasemann, the authors of our Ethics textbook that any workable ethical principle should have is to be rationally based and yet does not debar emotion indeed, Confucius Virtue Ethics is one that has this characteristic. It is an undeniable fact that many moral decisions involve emotional elements, and this ethical principle tries to achieve a balance in between reason and emotion not only that it urges people to act virtuously, but it also wants its followers to feel good closely their deeds. Besides, that, Confucius Virtue Ethics also fulfills other basic assumptions made and thus really seems to be a very practical ethical principle logically consistent, has universality, and can be taught to the younger generations.Of course, Confucius Virtue Ethics is not flawless. One of its main problems is how to define what virtue means and what does it mold? Many people will have very different opinions about which acts can be considered as virtuous. To solve or lessen this problem, possibly a group of experts can sit together and discuss about what should comprise virtuous acts and then make out a list of virtues (and vices) to guide the general population what they should (and should not) do.Another main problem about Confucius Virtue Ethics is that it does not really fulfill the fifth basic assumption mentioned by textbooks authors in which a workable moral system should have ability to solve conflicts. Although Virtue Ethics can overhaul as a good guideline about what goodness comprises of, it does not provide instructions for us about how to set priorities when two goodness conflict and how to solve moral dilemmas properly. This is when our group members all think the authors Humanitarian Ethics with its 5 basic principles come to be useful (source Ethics textbook by Thiroux and Krasemann)-1. The Principle of Appreciating Human Life (primary)2. The Principle of Doing uncorrupted and Avoid/Deter Doing Bad (primary)3. The Principle of Fairness in distribution (secondary)4. The Principle of Honesty (secondary)5. The Principle of Individual Freedom (secondary)While critically analyzing and reasoning a conflicting or complicating moral situation, it is said that the first two primary principles should be given the priority first, then only consider those in the secondary category if the conflicting principles are in the same category (for instance in the case of mercy killing), then the individuals freedom of choice will come into play. This reasoning method is very compatible with Confucius Virtue Ethics because as can be noted, virtues can all actually be the goodness that are required in the second principle. Thus, in short, all the virtues taught in Confucius Virtue Ethics can be used by the general populat ion as their daily-routine guidelines and when prodigious situations happen, people can use these 5 basic principles to make justifiable moral decision judgment.Hence in conclusion, our group believes that the combination of both Confucius Virtue Ethics and the authors Humanitarian Ethics is perfect because this combined chance variable of moral system can not only fulfill all the basic assumptions for an ethical theory to be practical, but if it is implemented well, it can also create many ethical and excellent human beings that can live harmoniously with each other.