Because all situations occur with and within a context, there will always be various contingencies that can be identified as part and parcel of a given situation. And, these contingencies will always be variable, that is to say, that things might have happened differently in the situation. In situations where ethics are a concern, people may have made different choices or done different things which may have altered the ethics of their actions. In short, we need to be aware of the context of situations and their contingencies when we make ethical judgments.
Such a position that elevates contingencies to an ingredient in ethical decision making is often referred to as a kind of "situational ethics. "According to this position, if one wants to know whether someone has acted ethically or not or if something is right or wrong, one must do a good job in reading the context of the situation and understand the facts of the matter being judged. In this view, our judgements are not completely formed by merely the application of ethical principles. We also have to be cognizant of the variable features of situations.
This moral perspective should not strike us as unique or unusual.Indeed, it can be said that the form of jurisprudence practiced in the US and many other countries relies very heavily upon this notion of contingencies. In a trial setting where a verdict of guilty or innocent is sought after, the adversarial system of justice applies law to various situations in a non-absolute fashion and depends upon how well judges and juries understand the situation and its contingencies at hand.
Moreover, the law itself is written with an eye toward the reality that no legal code or set of laws will be able to be directly applied to all situations. Hence, the law usually admits of varying degrees and gradations Ð for example, there are several pleas that the accused can make when there has been a death allegedly caused by the accused.
Like many moral approaches, this contingency-based approach is not without its detractors. Some argue that such a situational ethic is a form of relativism and as such it does not do justice to ethical decision making. This objection hold that ethics is a matter of applying absolute principles and the contingency-based approach undercuts such an application.
However, it can be maintained even in the face of such criticism, that facts and situations must play some role in the determinations of right and wrong. Contingencies will matter in our judgments and so we should ask as another step in ethical decision making: Are there any contingencies involved in the issue, problem, or dilemma, and, if so, what impact will they have?