Capital Punishment: Situation Ethics
Situation ethics argues that a situation should be judged in a case to case method. Joseph Fletcher was a pioneer in bioethics and was involved in the areas of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and cloning. His ethical beliefs focused on the idea that each action should be considered by the situation and applied the idea of
agapé love to each decision made. Agape love is a Christian belief described as the love for everyone and is one of the three types of loves defined i Christianity: Philo (love for friends and family), Eros (love for a partner) and Agapé, love for everyone He said that: 'the morality of an action depends on the situation'. Fletcher said that there are three ways in making decisions:
1. Legalistic ethics: inflexible rules and laws which are written are enforced nut are difficult to apply to each specific situation. Fletcher believed that this method as too rigid.
2. Antinomian ethics: there are no rles and one acts according to te situation. Fletcher believed this method was too vague and that there were no principles.
3. Situation ethics: There are no decided principles which are non specific, but there is one single rule which is agapé. This involves doing what is best for the other person, unconditionally. The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love's need.
Joseph Fletcher supported the third ethical decision making process.
There are four working principles of Situation Ethics:
1. Pragmatism: an action must be realistically able to work
2. Relativatism: there are no absolutes(fixed laws)
3. Faith
4. Personalism: the people come first
How Joseph Fletcher would approach capital punishment
Lets take the case of capital punisment regarding Ted Bundy, a serial killer, rapist, kidnapper and necrophile who murdered and assaulted more than thirty women and girls during the 1970's. He denied these laims for over two decades but finally confessed shortly before his execution and admitted to killing over thirty six people in seven states, but the total is still ambiguous and could be substantially higher. Ted Bundy lured his female victims in by feigning an injury and then assault them in secluded places, somtimes he would revisit the original crimescene and reenact the assault with the corpse. He decapitated twelve of his victims and kept the heads as momentos in his apartment. Bundy was eventually imprisoned in 1975 and shortly became a suspect for may other unsolved murders. Bundy escaped twice and commit a further three murders before being recaptured in 1978 and sentenced to the death penalty. According to situaion ethics, Ted Bundy should have been sentenced to death for the horrendous crimes he commited. Following the idea of agapé love, also it is not loving to kill an individual, it is beneficial for the entire American population and contribute towards a safer environment. He should have been killed because it is highly likely that he would have escaped for a third time and murdered repeatedly until he was recaptured, if ever; so Bundy's death sentence meant that there was no risk of his future escape and murders.
agapé love to each decision made. Agape love is a Christian belief described as the love for everyone and is one of the three types of loves defined i Christianity: Philo (love for friends and family), Eros (love for a partner) and Agapé, love for everyone He said that: 'the morality of an action depends on the situation'. Fletcher said that there are three ways in making decisions:
1. Legalistic ethics: inflexible rules and laws which are written are enforced nut are difficult to apply to each specific situation. Fletcher believed that this method as too rigid.
2. Antinomian ethics: there are no rles and one acts according to te situation. Fletcher believed this method was too vague and that there were no principles.
3. Situation ethics: There are no decided principles which are non specific, but there is one single rule which is agapé. This involves doing what is best for the other person, unconditionally. The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love's need.
Joseph Fletcher supported the third ethical decision making process.
There are four working principles of Situation Ethics:
1. Pragmatism: an action must be realistically able to work
2. Relativatism: there are no absolutes(fixed laws)
3. Faith
4. Personalism: the people come first
How Joseph Fletcher would approach capital punishment
Lets take the case of capital punisment regarding Ted Bundy, a serial killer, rapist, kidnapper and necrophile who murdered and assaulted more than thirty women and girls during the 1970's. He denied these laims for over two decades but finally confessed shortly before his execution and admitted to killing over thirty six people in seven states, but the total is still ambiguous and could be substantially higher. Ted Bundy lured his female victims in by feigning an injury and then assault them in secluded places, somtimes he would revisit the original crimescene and reenact the assault with the corpse. He decapitated twelve of his victims and kept the heads as momentos in his apartment. Bundy was eventually imprisoned in 1975 and shortly became a suspect for may other unsolved murders. Bundy escaped twice and commit a further three murders before being recaptured in 1978 and sentenced to the death penalty. According to situaion ethics, Ted Bundy should have been sentenced to death for the horrendous crimes he commited. Following the idea of agapé love, also it is not loving to kill an individual, it is beneficial for the entire American population and contribute towards a safer environment. He should have been killed because it is highly likely that he would have escaped for a third time and murdered repeatedly until he was recaptured, if ever; so Bundy's death sentence meant that there was no risk of his future escape and murders.