Situation Ethics

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• teleological - telos - end or purpose
• consequentialist theory - only the end justifies the means
• Situationism is the key concept
• Rejects absolutes
• All decisions made using agapé

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• 1960s social reform
• protests to end the war in Vietnam
• Civil Rights Movement in the USA
• Sexual Liberalisation -> pill and abortion act
• Reform in the Church with worries about sex before marriage and the sanctity of marriage

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• Fletcher - re-proposed the theory in the 1960s in response to the cultural change
• "the morality of an action depends on the situation"
• Looked at 3 different approaches: Antinomianism, Legalism and Situationism
• "it is literally unprincipled" means 'against law', no ethical system, each decision made spontaneously, "they are anarchic"
• A set of moral laws that must be kept "this causes problems as life's complexities require additional laws"
• enters into each moral dilemma with the rules on any given society but must be willing to disregarf those rules in order to serve love better "the situationist follows a moral law…