 In the middle of the last century a fellow by the name of Joseph
Fletcher wrote a book titled, Situation Ethics where he purports
ethical considerations are defined from within the context of a
particular behavior. Some of his work, along with others of the
period, drew inspiration from the works of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel, a German philosopher, from whom others have taken his work on
relativism to apply to the application of behaviors being "relative"
to context and nature. From the works of Fletcher and Hegel the
Western philosophical paradigm changed from Absolute moral values to
that of relativity.
In short, relativity or situational ethics, allows for the shifting
of standards of behavior to move from an unmovable, Absolute moral,
ethical standard to one that shifts as it is defined within the
context of what is happening at the moment of the behavior. Briefly,
a few examples of the contrast between the values of Absolute versus
Relative standards include the Absolute of it being wrong to steal
from others. The relative view allows some to steal through looting
from retail businesses if the offended party sincerely believes they
have been unjustly treated by those they perceive as having gained
their advantage economically through unfairly taking advantage of
those who "need" to steal in order to survive.
This rationale can be seen in workers who are working in a factory
where they believe they are entitled to take some of the product
home with them simply because the rich person who owns the factory
has likely "stolen" from the "rightful" owners to become enriched by
the sweat of the workers. That division of class struggles is
considered ethically moral because of the situation in which the
workers find themselves; they are therefore justified to "steal"
from the owner and still consider themselves moral. This process
also works for almost every aspect of life and actions. It is
actually taught each day in our public education process where every
action is measured right or wrong between actions of individuals and
the situation in which those actions are carried out.
[to top of second column] |
 It is no
surprise our country is in a debate now regarding our position in
the world regarding the consequences of the release of the CIA
report outlining "enhanced interrogations" as related to torture.
Human nature is created with choices. Those choices create a
continuum of actions with each person deciding morality and ethical
conclusions based on the relativity and situations in which those
actions are carried out. In the absence of an Absolute Standard
designed by and delivered by an All-Righteous God, we are only left
with making individual decisions regarding our behavior and are left
to accept others' behaviors as their personal relative morality.
As the Proverb suggests, we live with our leaders telling us, "If
you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period."
Eventually, having no moral compass but that of each individual
making the decision for himself, we will reach our ruin in the end.
Is it any wonder the masses of people in the world can be thought of
as "stupid" by the elite?
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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