Three approaches to ethics

Fletcher places his theory between two extremes:

• Legalism — following fixed rules whatever the situation (he thinks this is heartless).
• Antinomianism — having no rules or principles at all (he thinks this is chaotic).
• Situationism — bringing the moral wisdom of the community to each situation, but always ready to set a rule aside for love.

The one and only intrinsic good is agape love; everything else is good only if it serves love.

The one absolute

The four working principles

Fletcher gives four working principles for applying love:

• Pragmatism — the loving course must actually work in practice.
• Relativism — there are no absolute rules except love; everything else is relative to it.
• Positivism — we freely choose to put faith in love as our starting point; it is not proven by reason.
• Personalism — people come first, not laws; ethics serves persons.

Personalism

The six fundamental principles

Fletcher also states six fundamental principles. Key ones to know:

• Only love is intrinsically good.
• Love is the only norm — it replaces all other laws.
• Love and justice are the same: 'justice is love distributed'.
• Love wills the neighbour's good whether we like them or not.
• The end (the most loving outcome) justifies the means.
• Love decides there and then, situationally, not by prescribed rules.

Legalism, antinomianism or situationism?

Tap a statement, then the approach it describes.

Conscience and biblical roots

For Fletcher, conscience is not a faculty or a store of rules but a verb — the act of making loving decisions in the moment.

He appeals to Jesus, who set aside religious rules for the sake of love — for example healing on the Sabbath and putting people before legalistic observance. Love, not law, is the heart of Christian ethics.

Contrast with Natural Law: Natural Law is absolutist and rule-based; Situation Ethics is relativist and outcome-based. Both claim to be genuinely Christian.

Justice and love

Strengths and criticisms

Strengths: flexible, compassionate, person-centred, and fits Jesus emphasis on love.

Criticisms:

• Too subjective and individualistic — people can rationalise almost anything as 'loving'.
• Consequences are hard to predict, so we cannot be sure what love requires.
• It could justify harmful acts if they seem loving in the moment.
• The Catholic Church (Pope Pius XII) condemned it as undermining moral law; 'agape' is left vague.

Match the principle

Tap a working principle, then its meaning.

A criticism

The big ideas to take into the exam

Situation Ethics is the relativist counterpart to Natural Law. Press Finish.