keywords

• antinomianism

  (‘against law’) The belief that there should be no laws or principles governing human behaviour.
• agapeic calculus

  Fletcher’s idea that love can be measured and the calculus is the method used. Similar to Bentham’s Hedonic Calculus.
• autonomy

  (‘self-law’) The principle of self-determination, that people should be able to decide for themselves what is in their best interests.
• conative

  Brought about by the (human) will.
• personalism

  In Fletcher’s system, a presupposition that morality is about persons, not rules.
• positivism

  In Fletcher’s system, the presupposition that ethical norms (for example, those underpinning his situation ethics) are held by faith: that is, that agape is the only intrinsically good thing.
• predicate

  Love is a predicate in Fletcher’s system, meaning that it describes action in a situation and is not a thing in itself. Love is not a thing or a property, it is a formal principle expressing what kinds of real actions Christians are to call ‘good’.
• pragmatism

  In Fletcher’s system, pragmatism is the presupposition that we should do what is pragmatic, that is, what works in the situation.
• deontological

  Focused on the rightness or wrongness of an act according to rules, duties, and obligations.
• humanism

  A system of thought in which reliance is placed on human intelligence and will, rather than on supernatural guidance.
• teleological

  Focused on the rightness or wrongness of an act according to whether its consequences conform to the correct purpose.
• consequentialist

  Focused on the rightness or wrongness of an according to the consequences of the act.
• character based

  Focused on the character of the individual performing the action. It is the goodness or otherwise of the agent that is at the heart of character based ethics.
• absolutist

  An approach to ethics which claims that whatever is right or wrong is right or wrong universally – for all people in all times and places.
• relativist

  An approach to ethics which claims that there is no universal right or wrong.