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SITUATION
ETHICS
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SITUATION ETHICS

Situationism, which is also known as The New

Morality, is advocated by Joseph Fletcher, an
American Protestant medical doctor. Although it was
called The New Morality, situationism was actually
rooted from the classical tradition of Christian Morality.
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THE LIFE OF JOSEPH FLETCHER

 Joseph fletcher(1905-1991) was born in East Orange,

New Jersey on April 10, 1905
 He entered West Virginia University at Morgantown
when he was 17 years old.
 Became a member of the education staff of the United
Mine Worker’s Association.
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THE LIFE OF JOSEPH FLETCHER

 He was put into prison because of defying the law against

speaking in public for the miner’s union.
 His experiences working for the Consolidation Coal
Company and the Monongahela Coal Mine led to his lifelong
sympathy for the working conditions of coal miners.
 This also set the stage for his active lifelong involvement in
social activism.
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THE LIFE OF JOSEPH FLETCHER

 In his second year in college, he was able to meet a

fellow student and poet, Forrest Hatfield, Eventually
Forrest became his wife.
 He also became an active Christian in the Episcopal
Church.
 Because of his social ideals and Christian teachings
on charity and love, he embraced Christianity.
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THE LIFE OF JOSEPH FLETCHER

 Although he was considered as an outstanding

student, he nevertheless was denied a degree by
the university because he refused to participate in
compulsory military training.
 In 1936, he became a dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral
in Cincinnati
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THE LIFE OF JOSEPH FLETCHER

 In 1944, Joseph accepted the Robert Treat Paine

Chair in Social Ethics at the Episcopal Theological
School of Harvard University, where he taught
Christian Social Ethics.
 In 1949, Fletcher gave a Lowell Lecture.

 In 1967, Fletcher gave up his faith in Christianity and

disregarded any religious or secular dogma.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 Joseph Fletcher developed what is known as the
situation ethics.
 He explained this principle by way enumerating
different approaches to morality.
 According to Fletcher, there are three approaches to
morality: the legalistic, the antinomian, and the
situationist approach.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
1. The legalistic approach
 Upholds certain general moral prescriptions, laws, or
norms by which to judge, determine, and resolve moral
issues and decisions.

2. The antinomian approach

 Frees the people from the obligation of the moral law.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 This approach upholds that there should be no
absolute percepts or moral principles that are
enslaving people.
 The followers of this approach call for a response to
a particular situation varying from one individual to
another.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 From the antinomian’s point of view, every man has been
endowed with reason. Hence, everyone has the capability
of making moral decisions regardless of external rules or
regulations.
 According to Jean-Paul Sartre, “every individual is unique”

 There are no valid universal principles which can hold true

all the time.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 Moral principles will depend on how the human
person can make use of them in the particular
situation.
 From the point of view of Joseph Fletcher, this
approach is too liberal and unconventional.
 If this principle will be established , the society may
lead to anarchy and moral chaos.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
3. The situationists approach
 Fletcher believed that situationism is the way
between legalist and antinomian’s lack of principles.
 Situationism is the ethical theory that states that the
rightness of an act depends upon a particular
situation. But whatever the situation would be, one
should always act in the name of Christian love.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 Situationists rejected all “revealed” norms or laws

 One can follow a moral law or violate it according to

love’s need.
 In any decision, situationism held that the proper
decision must always be based in the name of
Christian Love.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 Joseph Fletcher distinguished the three types of love:
the erotic love, the filial love, and the agapeic love.
 Erotic Love, from the Greek word “eros”, is the love
that normally exists between a man and a woman; but
sometimes, between a man and a man or between a
woman and a woman. This is love that involves
physical relations.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 Filial Love, from the Latin word “filius”, which
means “son”, refers to the love that exists between a
parent and a child, and between brother and sisters.
 According to Fletcher, both erotic and filial love
cannot be considered as the best form of love as
both were marked by preferences.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 Agapeic Love, refers to one’s care and concern
towards others irrespective of who they are.
 Comes from the Greek word “agape”, which refers
to the universal love.
 The best example of this agapeic love was the
Christian Love.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
SIX FORMULATION OF CHRISTIAN LOVE

1. Only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love;

nothing else.

Love is the only thing that is good in this world.

Fletcher must have the New Testament as his refence.
In 1 Corinthians 13:13.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
2. The ultimate norm of Christian decision is love,
nothing else.

Christianity is a decision of love. Therefore, all the

decisions that are to be made must be base on love.
This love, however does not distinguish whether the
other is a fellow catholic, or a protestant, or a Muslim.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
3. Love and justice are the same; for justice is love
distributed.

Whenever one would say that he loves a person, its

tantamount to saying that he is also going to be
providing justice to that person.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
4. Love wills the neighbours' goods, whether we like
them or not.

It is Just normal for a person to have preferences

over others because every person is capable of
thinking and the others possess better qualities than
someone else. However the call To Christian love is to
love others whether one possess good qualities or not.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
5. Only the end justifies the means

Fletcher claims that an evil means does not always

signify that the end will become evil as well.

6. Decisions are ought to be made situationally, not

prescriptively

Situation ethics give high regard to freedom and

responsibility.
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MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH
FLETCHER
 Agapeic love must, therefore, be the norm for
making a moral decision because it shows no
preferential treatment for either erotic or filial
considerations.
 Agapeic love also avoids favoritism, friendship, dept
of gratitude, “pakikisama”
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CRITIQUE TO SITUATION ETHICS

 Because situationism believed that every moral

decision would always be depending on a particular
context, then situationism could be considered as
the ethical view that does not uphold any moral
principles to be the basis of universal moral
decisions.
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CRITIQUE TO SITUATION ETHICS

 Although utilitarianism would consider the agapeic

love as the ultimate norm ok making a moral
decision, it is still difficult to make a proper moral
decision because every decision is still dependent
on one’s personal interests and ulterior motives
under pretext of love.