- Situated ethics
Situated ethics, often confused with
situational ethics , is a view ofapplied ethics in which abstract standards from a culture or theory are considered to be far less important than the ongoing processes in which one is personally and physically involved, e.g. climate, ecosystem, etc. It is one of several theories of ethics within thephilosophy of action .There are also
situated theories ofeconomics , e.g. mostgreen economics , and ofknowledge , usually based on some situated ethics. All emphasize the actual physical, geographical, ecological and infrastructural state the actor is in, which determines that actor's actions or range of actions - all deny that there is any one point of view from which to apply standards of or byauthority . This makes such theories unpopular with authority, and popular with those who advocate politicaldecentralisation .Embodiment
Humans pass through
Kohlberg/Gilligan's stages of moral development . Up to stage 3, these stages are compatible withembodiment . Mostphilosophy of law emphasizes that the fact that bodies take risk to enforce laws, make laws embodied at least to the degree they are enforced.However, the stages become problematic when
Lawrence Kohlberg posits auniversal ethic s - that is, adisembodied ethic s. All ethical decisions are necessarily situated in aworld .Carol Gilligan 's view is closer to anembodied view and emphasizesethical relationship s - necessarily between bodies - over universal ethical principles that require aGod's Eye view . Some ethicists emphasize the role of theethicist to sort out right versus right in a given context. This is stage 4 but assumes that the ethicist is hesitant to damage relationships or violate principles, e.g. that survival orhuman rights take precedence overproperty rights .References
Helen Simons Robin Usher (2000) "Situated Ethics in Educational Research" (ISBN 0-415-20666-9)
ee also
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Situational ethics
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