Situation Ethics

• Created by Joseph Fletcher - he reduced christian ethics to Jesus' love
• legalism - people have rules to follow

  antinomianism - no rules to follow


  Fletcher claimed that situation ethics was the middle ground, avoiding moral chaos, and allowing situations to be accounted for
• The best action is the one that has the most loving consequence in the situation
• Agape love - sacrificial, selfless and unconditional
• The four working principles


  Pragmatism - the course of action must be practical to the situation

  Relativism - actions are relative to situations

  Positivism - you have to want to do the loving thing

  Personalism - love people not rules
• The six fundamental principles (JRISEN)


  Justice - love and justice are the same

  Ruling - love is the ruling norm of christian decisions

  Intrinsic - love is within everything and is good

  Situational - not an absolutist theory

  End - only the end justifies the mean - consequentialist

  Neighbour - Love thy neighbour - Jesus
• Fletchers view on conscience

  Conscience is a verb not a noun, an action

  He disagrees that is is an internal moral conscience or that it is God's voice