Joseph Fletcher Situation Ethics Essay

“How far is Situation Ethics’ a satisfactory approach to moral decision-making?”
Joseph Fletcher’s situation ethics states that decision-making should be based upon the circumstances of a particular situation, and not fixated upon law. The principles of situation ethics derive from Jesus’ action of breaking the law when the situation demanded it for reasons of love. Hence Fletcher states, “The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love’s need”. Therefore a situationist would be prepared to set aside rules in circumstances that would bring about the most love - like Jesus - usually because a person mattered more than the rule. This means actions that would usually be considered morally wrong by legalists such as lying, would be justified by situation ethics if love is better served by it. For example, an insane murderer who asks you the
Unlike the legalistic approach, situation ethics is able to differentiate between the least bad of two options which is generally commonsensical as human beings tend to weigh up actions – again referring back to the last example, a legalist will always have to tell the truth which puts them in an impossible situation when faced with a murderer seeking his victim, whereas a situationist can set aside the rule of not lying to produce the better outcome of saving a person’s life. In addition situation ethics seems to be favourable to most as it teaches that right acts are those motivated by the wish to promote the well-being of people. Fletcher has argued that because Christianity's God is a personal one, its moral approach should be centred around human beings too. Consequently it puts people before principles which seem to be beneficial for contemporary morality as it can adjust to new situations that didn’t exist in the past such as