In 1966, traditional Christian ethics seemed to many people to be increasingly irrelevant in a changing and modernising world.

In response, Joseph Fletcher published Situation Ethics: The New Morality.

It was intended as an alternative: a flexible and modern ethical system rooted in Christian principles.

It is based on four ‘working principles’ (or ‘presuppositions’):

1. Pragmatism

2. Relativism

3. Positivism

4. Personalism

Note: In Situation Ethics, Fletcher gives them in the above order. Here, they are explained in an order that (hopefully!) brings out the connections between them more clearly.

Positivism

Situation Ethics claims (or ‘posits’, hence ‘positivism’) that ‘love is the greatest good’.

Fletcher explains, ‘In moral theology [...] the key category of love (agapé) as the axiomatic value is established by deciding to say, “Yea” to the faith assertion that “God is love”’ (1966: 49).

In other words, Fletcher cannot prove that ‘love is the greatest good’ and does not try to.

However, he claims that ALL ethical systems are based on un-proveable claims about the ‘greatest good’.

And so he invites the reader to join him in ‘positing’ that this is love (agapé).

Personalism

The object of Christian love is people — so Situation Ethics is ‘personalistic’.

Fletcher explains, ‘Anything, material or immaterial, is “good” only because it is good for or to somebody’ (1966: 50).

So, to show love for someone is to make their condition better in some way.

The Situationist chooses to live by the maxim that ‘love is the greatest good’, and puts this into practice by improving the conditions of other people.

Pragmatism

For Fletcher ‘pragmatism’ means that thoughts and actions are not inherently ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, they BECOME right or wrong depending on their consequences.

Fletcher writes, ‘Christianly speaking [...] the norm or measure by which any thought or action is to be judged a success or failure, i.e., right or wrong, is love’ (1966: 43).

He means that a thought or action becomes ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ depending on whether it is loving: that is, whether it improves the condition of other people.

Relativism

The consequence of ‘pragmatism’ is that ANY thought or action has the potential to become ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ depending on the situation.

Fletcher argues, ‘We are always [...] commanded to act lovingly, but how to do it depends on our own responsible estimate of the situation’ (1966: 45).

This means that actions which would normally be ‘wrong’ (like killing an unarmed person), can sometimes be ‘right’, if there happens to be a situation in which the victim’s death will improve other people’s condition.

References

• Fletcher, Joseph. 1966. Situation Ethics: The New Morality (Westminster Press)

• Frye, John. 2017. AQA A-Level Religious Studies, vol. 1 (Hodder Education), pp. 141–160

• Tweed, Cressida and Amanda Forshaw. 2019. Pearson Edexcel Religious Studies: Religion and Ethics (Hodder Education), pp. 34–40