Sexual Ethics

• Premarital sex: refers to sexual intercourse before marriage. It refers to those who are cohabiting and those who have just met and those who are in a relationship but not married. 
• Cohabitation: the state of living together and having a sexual relationship without being married
• secularisation is the process by which religious ideas gradually become less relevant within society.
• Medical advancement- medical advancements like contraception  mean that we no longer need to follow the same rules in regards to sex.
• Sexual Ethics- the study of human sexuality and sexual behaviour, it seeks to understand and evaluate the moral conduct of relationships and sexual activities from a philosophical perspective
• (1 Corinthians 7:2) ‘but because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband’.
• ‘But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion” (1 Corinthians 7:9)
• ‘Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men’ – 1 Corinthians 6:9
• The Archbishop of York John Setamu backed Prince William and Kate Middleton’s decision to live together before marriage, saying that ‘Many modern couples want to test the milk before buying the cow’
• Extramarital sex: A married person who has sex with someone else
• If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife- with the wife of his neighbour- both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death - Leviticus 20:10
• But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Matthew 5:31
• “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” Corinthians 7:2
• Since the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity”- Catechism of the Catholic Church.
• Lisa Sowle Cahill, Roman Catholic Professor of Theology postulates that marriage and the rejection of divorce was initially enforced by the church to protect women. Thus, marriage should be respected.
• Germanic Grisez, a modern philosopher supports Aquinas. He states that marriage makes you ‘one flesh’ so divorce should not be permitted. Divorce and remarriage are thus equivalent to adultery.
• Strengths of Natural Laws views on Premarital sex

  It emphasises the importance of the sanctity of marriage and reproduction, which could be seen as beneficial for the stability of society.

  • Up holds traditional Christian exegesis found with in the bible about marriage so is and

  in line with Christian principles

  • Deontological approach provides a clarity that premarital sex is wrong no matter the circumstances
• Weaknesses of Natural Law’s views on Premarital sex.

  • Sex is only for procreation, this is a dated concept, society now accepts that sex can be for fun
  • Sex has a unitive as well as procreative functions - it is a way of expressing love
  • Deontological approach does not take each individual situation into account. E.g loving cohabitating couples. 
• As Agape is the guiding principle, premarital sex is acceptable if it is a loving act, based on mutual respect within a committed relationship.
• As Love is the only absolute thing that is intrinsically good, premarital sex in and of itself is not morally wrong
• As Love is the goal or end of the act and that justifies any means to achieve that goal, cohabiting couples are in committed relationships and want to be able to show their commitment of love through sex.
• As Love decides on each situation as it arises without a set of laws to guide it, Each situation deserves to be though of individually.
• The principle of Pragmatism in Situation Ethics means that moral decision making is based on experiences rather than theory- setting aside fixed moral truths in order to put the person and their relationship at the heart of each decision
• The principle of Personalism within Situation Ethics means that persons, not laws or anything else are the centre of situations ethics. So, the people involved need to be at the centre of the decision making.

• Weaknesses of Situation Ethics on Premarital Sex.

  Does not emphasise the sanctity of marriage or the use of sex is only for procreation as found with the Bible. St. Augustine upholds this when he addresses marriage as a sacrament that is ‘an outward sign of an inner blessing.’

  
  

  Teleological approach does not provide a clarity that premarital sex is wrong no matter the circumstances.

  
  

  Fletcher's theory contradicts the Christian principle. I.e It contradicts the Roman Catholic view that premarital sex is wrong.
• Premarital sex increases individual freedom which is important to Kant- But freedom should be used to do morally right acts - within reason
• 2nd formulation- treat others as an end in themselves, not a means to an end.

  Premarital sex involves Sexual relationships that are outside normative social rules.(society’s regulations). Social rules exist to protect the vulnerable, sex is not governed by those rules is more risky for some, it opens up the possibility that the person with less power in the relationship will be abused. Kant believed that in having sex, we were allowed to use us to fulfil their desires (as a means to an end).
• The second formulation of the categorical imperative is important regarding sex for Kant. He thinks that sex which is not within a marriage for the purpose of procreation pretty much involves each person using the other as a mere means to their own gratification. This is a kind of objectification – treating someone as an object, which involves treating them as a mere means.
• 1st formulation- formula of the law of nature- Universal Law. 

  According to Kant, if an act can be universalised it is moral, as marriage is a universalised concept, it is clear that premarital sex is immoral. Through marriage, people give themselves to the other person in law, so there is a common will. The only time for Kant that someone is not being used in sex when it happens in marriage
• “If I yield myself completely to another and obtain the person of the other in return, I win myself back… in this way the two persons become a unity of will.”
• “Because sexual desire is not an inclination that a person has for another as a human, but an inclination for another’s sex, this inclination is a principle of degradation of humanity”
• Act Utilitarianism would judge an action based on whether it produced the most amount of pleasure compared to other actions. If a sexual act, whether it is homosexual or pre/extra marital sex, maximised pleasure compared to the other option of not doing or allowing them, then it would be good to do/allow them.
• Germanic Grisez 

  (modern philosopher supports Aquinas)

  Marriage makes you ‘one flesh’ so divorce should not be permitted. Divorce and remarriage=adultery
• Extramarital sex is an apparent good as it might feel good, but this not a real good , because the primary purpose of extramarital sex is to be release from sexual frustration. Nothing more than felicitas.
• Natural law theory is based on the idea that God created all things, including us, with the potential to flourish if we live according to the natural law. The telos of human life is achieving ultimate happiness through glorifying God by following the natural moral law. Going against God’s natural law is not just wrong because it is a sin, it is also bad for our own happiness and well-being. This type of argument has led to critiques of sex outside marriage as detrimental to happiness.
• Lisa Sowle Cahill

  The Roman Catholic Professor of Theology believes that marriage and the rejection of divorce was initially enforced by the church to protect women. Thus, marriage should be respected. 
• • “Conjugal love.. aims at a deep unity, a unity that, beyond…. Since the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity”Catechism of the Catholic Church.
• Adrian Thatcher

  -Christians shouldn’t over-emphasise the ceremony- traditional view of marriage as the covenant with God shouldn’t always be seen as the fundamental value of marriage as other factors such as love. 

  -Long tradition of betrothal locates the point of commitment as betrothal, when promises are made.- Engagement. 

  -‘Marriage after Modernity: Christian Marriage in Post-Modern Times’
• ‘The wisest and most practical way forward therefore may be for Christian’s to both hold fast to the centrality of marriage and at the same time to accept that cohabitation is, for many people, a step along the way towards that fuller and complete commitment. Such an approach has much to be said in its favour.’ General Synod, 1995.
• The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity.   Catechism 1603