1. To know the definition of situation ethics.
2. To understand the appeal of situation ethics
3. To understand criticism of situation ethics.
4. To become familiar with quotes of Fletcher's book ( under construction)

Situation Ethics: (also called context ethics or contextualism)
An ethical system, created by Joseph Fletcher,  wherein one's actions are based on the "most loving" thing/act in each given situation. There are no moral rules or guides other than Christian love. What is moral in a particular situation is what is the loving thing to do. in that particular situation.

 A situation cannot to be judged in advance by inherited rules, but can only be evaluated and judged by the criterion of love. 

Love may demand a solution contrary to law and custom.   Man must be freed from the constraints of the law in order to love to the fullest and perform the right thing, his most fully human function - that of love.

Case Study: To make love or not

John is in love with Mary, and tells her, "If you really love me, you will make love to me. Can't you see how much I love you and need you?" 

According to situation ethics, the answer does not depend upon whether or not they are married (to each other or to someone else), but upon what the most loving action would be. The determining factor, the determining principle is not the presence or absence of marriage, but of love.

Therefore, before saying yes or not, a situation ethicist would consider the love involved - how much does John love Mary.  Would it be selfish of Mary to say NO if she is tired - or if she is sick with a cold, or if she doesn't feel like it, or if she is not sure. What impact does age have on love (teens, college students, working professionals, married to each other or to other people...

• Uniqueness of each human act
• It is essential that humans be free of all constraints to decide any way we want depending on the situation
• Love is paramount

• Nothing is immoral in itself
• We can't simplify human complexity
• Situation isn't the sole deciding factor for making judgments

Paul Tillich Systematic Theology Vol 1, p. 151: "The law of love is the ultimate law because it is the negation of law; it is absolute because it concerns everything concrete."

Comments on Situation Ethics by Herbert McCabe in What is Ethics All About?
"On the whole, I think that advocates of 'situation ethics' tend to think mainly in terms of the immediate face to face situation. Their examples of moral problems tend to be taken from the field of family or personal relationships...Every moral problem of the slightest interest is a problem about who is to get hurt; the injunction to love everyone concerned does not help us to decide that question.....Man at any time is in a great number of overlapping situations, the demands of which will frequently conflict. ...the problem is not so much to discern the demands of 'the' situation as to discern the priorities amongst the different situations." (32-34)

Situation Ethics -- John Warwick Montgomery, Joseph Fletcher; Paperback