Key Texts

Situation Ethics: The New Morality by Joseph Fletcher

Ethics in a permissive society  Rev. William Barclay

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Strengths

• Many people agree with its consequentialist approach 

• Fletcher’s interpretation of pragmatism is that it considers the consequences of an action and is pragmatic about it 

• This allows situation ethics to make moral decisions which have the best outcomes when rule based ethic approaches cannot always do this 

• The idea of acting out of ‘agape’ is in keeping with ideas of Jesus 

• Fletcher put forward Six Propositions to explain the concept of Agape.

•  Some of these are that justice is just love distributed fairly ▪ Fletcher also notes that Jesus did not always follow religious rules such as the Law of Moses forbidding working on the Sabbath as Jesus acting of love instead to do miracles on the Sabbath 

The Four Working Principals seems both practical and value people 

• On the one hand, there are consequentialist elements but it also values people and puts people first 

• This may prevent problems of out consequentialist theories where you can do something terrible to one person for the good of the many 

The ethical theory works well in Fletcher’s four examples 

• The most famous example is of a married women in a concentration camp who could go back to her family if she becomes pregnant by a guard 

• Fletcher argues that under divine command theory, she is committing a sin because it is adultery. 

• But situation ethics views her as acting out of love for her family and allows it instead

Weaknesses

William Barclay: Situation Ethics is too optimistic about human nature 

• Barclay puts forward a particularly catholic view about humans needing more guidance on ethics and not being able to decide for themselves what is right or wrong 

• Arguably, there is so many different opinions about morals around the world that you might argue Barclay is right 

Not everyone agrees that the ‘end’ justifies the ‘means’ 

• One of Fletcher’s Six Propositions states that only the end justifies the means but this worries many scholars

• It seems to imply that if there is a good consequence then any means is acceptable (even things like murder) 

• Some scholars argues that certain actions are just always wrong 

The concept of ‘agape’ is too ambiguous

• Fletcher gives some statements about what agape means but it is still a very vague concept 

• The best that Fletcher can do is say for people to look at the example of Jesus in the Bible and work out what agape means themselves 

• This doesn’t seem like a good enough response 

William Barclay contradicts lots of Christian ethics from the Bible 

• William Barclay notes that many of Fletcher’s views about what is right and wrong contradict passages in the Bible 

• It’s hard to argue that the theory is a Christian ethic when it contradicts the Bible

Key arguments/debates 

• Some philosophers see Fletcher’s idea that ‘love is justice distributed’ trending towards a divorce from social context. Integral to its definition is a relativistic understanding of the whole. 

• Others see Fletcher as an active social reformer, questioning discriminatory laws and demanding change: ‘love wills the good of others, regardless of feelings’ and eradicates prejudice and discrimination. 

• Some would see the priority of personalism over against religious rulings as consistent with Jesus’ declaration that ‘Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath’. 

• Others would side with William Barclay, (Ethics in a Permissive Society) and see the nature and function of the law as ‘the distillation of experience’ that society has found to be beneficial 

Key Questions 

• Is Situation Ethics too individualistic for it to work in society? 

• Is Situation Ethics based in extreme examples and so distorted?

• Is Situation Ethics too idealistic to be of any practical use? 

• Does total freedom from religious rules mean ethical anarchy?   

Key Quotes  

“What a difference it makes when love, understood agape, is boss.” (Fletcher) 

“There must be an absolute or norm of some kind if there is to be any true relativity.” (Fletcher) 

“To love Christianly is a matter of attitude, not of feeling.” (Fletcher) 

“Justice is the many-sidedness of love.” (Fletcher) 

Key Quotes - Application 

“Society has a right to protect itself from danger within and without, and not to force a monistic and monopoly standard of personal conduct.” (Fletcher) 

“There is some boundary between personal existence and the social membership. There is some range for private choice and personal taste. ” (Fletcher) 

“What sex probably needs more than anything is a good airing, demythologizing it and getting rid of its mystique-laden and occult accretions.” (Fletcher)

“Whether any form of sex (hetero, homo or auto) is good or evil depends on whether love is fully served.” (Fletcher)