Situation ethics
A01: Examine any four of Fletcher’s six fundamental principles of Situation Ethics
By Saskia Hallam
The first principle of Fletcher’s which I will examine is that Fletcher says ‘only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love: nothing else at all.’ Using this principle Fletcher is explaining how only love is good in itself. He uses the principle to explain how nothing else has intrinsic value as other actions ‘gain or acquire their value only because they happen to help people, therefore being good or happen to hurt people, therefore as a result would be considered as bad.’ Here he is saying other actions are extrinsically good as in situation ethics whether these actions are good or evil depends upon their circumstances, consequences and whether they promote the most loving result. Consider the example of a teen pregnant girl who is in the middle of her GCSE’s and not ready to be a mother, is an abortion an intrinsically good action? No the act of the abortion itself in this situation could be justified by the situationist as correct for it’s loving purpose which would be that the girl would be relieved of stress and be able to concentrate on her education, but the actual abortion would be an extrinsically good act. The love that brought the decision of the abortion around in this situation would be what was intrinsically good.
Another one of Fletcher’s fundamental principles in situation ethics is that ‘the ruling norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else.’ Here Fletcher is explaining how in situation ethics love replaces the law and how laws such as the Ten Commandments in the Bible are not absolute as they can be broken if love is better served, for example Jesus broke them when love demanded it. Fletcher is emphasising how in situation ethics love has greater importance in decision making than keeping to absolute rules. An example of this principle applied is that Jesus and St Paul corrected the Torah with the principle of love. A love that
By Saskia Hallam
The first principle of Fletcher’s which I will examine is that Fletcher says ‘only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love: nothing else at all.’ Using this principle Fletcher is explaining how only love is good in itself. He uses the principle to explain how nothing else has intrinsic value as other actions ‘gain or acquire their value only because they happen to help people, therefore being good or happen to hurt people, therefore as a result would be considered as bad.’ Here he is saying other actions are extrinsically good as in situation ethics whether these actions are good or evil depends upon their circumstances, consequences and whether they promote the most loving result. Consider the example of a teen pregnant girl who is in the middle of her GCSE’s and not ready to be a mother, is an abortion an intrinsically good action? No the act of the abortion itself in this situation could be justified by the situationist as correct for it’s loving purpose which would be that the girl would be relieved of stress and be able to concentrate on her education, but the actual abortion would be an extrinsically good act. The love that brought the decision of the abortion around in this situation would be what was intrinsically good.
Another one of Fletcher’s fundamental principles in situation ethics is that ‘the ruling norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else.’ Here Fletcher is explaining how in situation ethics love replaces the law and how laws such as the Ten Commandments in the Bible are not absolute as they can be broken if love is better served, for example Jesus broke them when love demanded it. Fletcher is emphasising how in situation ethics love has greater importance in decision making than keeping to absolute rules. An example of this principle applied is that Jesus and St Paul corrected the Torah with the principle of love. A love that