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Situational ethics, or situation ethics, takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically, rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards. In situation ethics, within each context, it is not a universal law that is to be followed, but the law of love. A Greek word used to describe love in the Bible is "agape". Agape is the type of love that shows concern about others, caring for them as much as one cares for oneself. Agape love is conceived as having no strings attached to it and seeking nothing in return; it is a totally unconditional love.〔"Situation ethics", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (2000)〕 Early proponents of situational approaches to ethics included Kierkegaard, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Jaspers, and Heidegger.〔Mark E. Graham, ''Josef Fuchs on Natural Law'', Georgetown University Press, 2002. P. 8〕 Specifically Christian forms of situational ethics placing love above all particular principles or rules were proposed in the first half of the twentieth century by Rudolf Bultmann, John A. T. Robinson, and Joseph Fletcher. These theologians point specifically to agapē, or unconditional love, as the highest end. Other theologians who advocated situational ethics include Josef Fuchs, Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Paul Tillich.〔 Tillich, for example, declared that "Love is the ultimate law."〔Tillich, ''Systematic Theology'', v. 1, p. 152〕 Fletcher, who became prominently associated with this approach in the English-speaking world due to his book (''Situation Ethics''), stated that "all laws and rules and principles and ideals and norms, are only contingent, only valid if they happen to serve love" in the particular situation, and thus may be broken or ignored if another course of action would achieve a more loving outcome. Fletcher has sometimes been identified as the founder of situation ethics, but he himself refers his readers to the active debate over the theme that preceded his own work.〔 ==Ethical classification and origin of term== Situational ethics is a form of consequentialism, though distinct from utilitarianism in that the latter's aim is "the greatest good for the greatest number", while situational ethics focuses on creating the greatest amount of love. Situational ethics can also be classed under the ethical theory genre of "proportionalism" which says that "It is never right to go against a principle unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it."〔Hoose, 1987〕 J. A. T. Robinson, a situational ethicist, considered the approach to be a form of ethical relativism. There was an active debate in the mid-twentieth century around situational ethics, which was being promoted by a number of primarily Protestant theologians. The English term "situation ethics" was taken from the German ''Situationsethik''. It is unclear who first coined the term either in German or in its English variant. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「situational ethics」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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