The four working principles

What they are and how they are intended to be applied: Fletcher thought that we needed presuppositions to guide how we will apply the principle of agape, the working principles help to understand how situation ethics works. They tell us how to act, they make it easy for us to apply agape.

Ethics – Situation Ethics

Pragmatism**:** it is based on experience rather than on theory Fletcher emphasizes that all situation ethics must be practical, he has tried to create an ethics that is concerned with how moral views might play out in each real-life situation. Pragmatism is based on experience rather than on theory meaning a pragmatist focuses on the question 'what works?' It is an ethical strategy that is not about establishing universal rules or norms but is about making contextual, practical, decisions in order to secure the most beneficial outcome, which is always love. This is because as it has to be practical, strict rules in every situation are not practical. Situationists should always take a case-by-case approach to making moral decisions.

To support this idea further we can see that during the Bosnian war in the 1990s rape was being used as a weapon, to cause a fatherless generation. Even the Catholic church who usually have strict rules on not allowing contraception allowed artificial contraception in a protective manner. This shows the need for ethics to be practical in everyday life as strict rules are only ever valid in theoretical ethics. Bultmann supports this view, he translates Jesus' ethics into the existential demand for decision. Jesus was not a teacher of ethics, either personal or social. He did not teach absolute principles or lay down rules of conduct. He demanded only one thing: a decision. Relativism: it is based on making the absolute laws of Christian ethics relative Situation ethics should be based on making the absolute laws of Christian ethics relative as there should be no absolute and fixed view of the right thing to do. All ethical judgments are relative to agapeic love, the words never, complete, perfect, always, and absolutely should never be used as each situation needs to be judged on its own merits. Situation ethics ensures that the only fixed rule is agape but its application needs to be relative.

📝For example, although for most people to end your life is not seen as being morally good, for a situationist no such rule applies as in the case of the sacrificial suicide, suicide would be permitted Fletcher stated that situation ethics 'Relativizes the absolute, it does not absolutize the relative'. This means that rules (absolutes) don't always apply, they depend on the situation. Absolutes like 'Do not steal' become relative to love, if love demands stealing food for the hungry, you steal. However, it doesn't mean 'anything goes'. He doesn't take a relative 'Do whatever the situation demands' and make it into an absolute it is a form of relativism in which the rules of Christian ethics are not abandoned, but are interpreted as relative to Christian love. We apply the one good, agape, by making it relative to consequences.

Ethics – Situation Ethics

Positivism: it begins with belief in the reality and importance of love Positivism is the acceptance of agape through faith, it is the most important thing when making a moral decision, as it means we commit to the cause of love. Within Situation Ethics this means you have to start with a positive choice, you need to want to do good by applying agape. There is no rational answer to the question "Why should I love?" it begins with a belief in the reality and importance that 'God is love'. Situationists do not aim in not to break the law or trust in human reasoning when they are making moral decisions, they take a leap of faith by freely choosing to believe that 'God is love', then when they approach a moral dilemma, they are acting out of faith in that statement that as God is the love they should show love. Situationist thinking should always begin with faith in love, not in rules as reason works with faith, and faith tells us God is love, so in every situation, we must think about the most loving thing to do.

Personalism: persons, not laws or anything else, are at the center of situation ethics Personalism ensures that human beings and their concerns are at the center of morality. Personalism is the belief that we ought to put people first the legalist puts law first the situationist puts people first as they are more important than any laws or anything else, and are at the center of situation ethics. Human beings are made in the 'image of God', so our obligation is to persons, to subjects, not objects. Human beings and their concerns are at the center of morality, there is nothing individualistic about personalism. The situationist asks what to do to help humans first. This follows Jesus' words when he stated, as 'Sabbath was made for the man, not man for the Sabbath', we are bound by not ruled by laws but should use the law to do the most loving thing For example, in the story of the Good Samaritan Jesus states 'Go and do likewise' in other words he is saying go and make a loving decision in the same way, you will need to go and work it how to make sure people come first not the law or prejudice against another as was portrayed in the story. This is also seen in the sacrificial adultery, whereby we know that Fletcher would sanction the breaking of the commandment 'do not commit adultery', in order for the woman and her family's lives to be put first. Advantages of using Four working principles to make moral decisions: We have a clear understanding of how we can make decisions based on how agape should be applied,

Personalism ensures that people are put first before laws, this is something that appeals to most people when making moral decisions as we like to give value to human life. This means that it is a ethics that most people will support as it allows for flexible decisions that are based on human needs

It is a pragmatic ethics that provides solutions that work, making it a useful ethical theory. The working principles ensure situation ethics focuses on using love as a focus for decision making. Most people like the idea of love being the motive to act Fletcher describes his ethics as 'principled relativism' which means it is the best of both worlds as using agape to guide decisions means it is objective and universal while being able to be applied to all circumstances individually. Disadvantages of using Four working principles to make moral decisions The working principles encourage the dismissal of set biblical rules., 'The 10 commandments' were not called the '10 suggestions', they should be followed, and the rules should not be optional extras for Christians. The principles are vague, it's impossible to say what you're supposed to do in each situation based on the principles making it subjective. How do you work out what the most loving thing is within the situation if it changes from situation to situation? There is no basis for creating a Christian ethics on the love principles as discussed in the working principles, making it baseless. No defense is given for situation ethics we are just supposed to accept the idea that there are no fixed rules and that ethics should be based on love.