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Joseph Fletcher Situation Ethical Analysis

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What is Situation Ethics? Situation Ethics was popularized by Joseph Fletcher around 1960s to 1970s. It claims that the morality of an act depends on the context rather than absolute moral standards. The situation is defined as “…the relative weight of the ends and means and motives and consequences all taken together, as weighed by love” In short, the absolute truth in Situation Ethics is “love”. Furthermore, if there is a right or wrong, it would be determined based on the desired result of the situation. Love is the supreme moral principle for Situation Ethics. Joseph Fletcher had six propositions that explains on what it means, and how to live situationally with only one absolute truth: Love. These six propositions would determine whether …show more content…

Love is not based on emotion but on the will. While in other types of love such as Eros, the cause of love is desire, in agape love, love is the cause of desire. Furthermore, Fletcher made a comparison between erotic love and agape love. Erotic love is mere egoistic and selfish. It means that they only do a certain action to reach their own personal desire. On the other hand, Agape love, is altruistic, meaning a person will give even there is nothing in return. For this reason, loving the neighbor does not even mean pleasing them or us. It is our will to love others whether they please us or …show more content…

However, is this type of “love” similar from what the Bible teaches, or is it different? Two of the many flaws that can be seen in Fletcher’s Situation Ethics are: his views of love as the only moral principle; and failure to address the central purpose of human beings. First, Fletcher’s view of love is not far from the truth—Jesus commanded us to “love one another” (Mark 13:30-31). Second, Fletcher ignored the first command by Jesus – “…and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark

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