The six propositions

What are they? How do they give rise to the theory of situation ethics and its approach to moral decision-making?

Ethics – Situation Ethics

Situation Ethics is split into two guiding principles: The Four Working Principles and The Six Propositions. The Six Propositions provide a detailed definition of agape, outlining what it is in practice. They inform you about why you should use agape in moral decision-making.

1. Love is the only intrinsically good thing Fletcher stated 'Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love'. What he means by this is that individual actions by themselves are not innately good or evil. They are good or evil depending on whether they promote the most loving result, moral actions only gain value because they happen to help a person, for the right reason. 📝 For example, the moral decision of whether to lie is within itself not intrinsically right or wrong. A lie is bad when it hurts someone, but for situations, a lie can become good when it's loving because all loving acts are good. So, you are able to break the law 'do not lie', without being sinful.

Fletcher states:

'For the situationist, what makes the lie right is its loving purpose; [they are] not hypnotized by some abstract law, 'Thou shalt not lie'.' This proposition outlines the fact that according to situational ethics, agape love is good in itself; without the application of love, an action can neither be described as good or evil. An action can only be described as good or evil depending on the circumstance and consequence. This proposition explains that agape love is what makes an action right or wrong.

Fletcher adds:

'The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love's need'. So, 'giving to charity is a good thing' needs to be changed to 'giving to charity is a good thing if ...' because actions are not intrinsically good or evil. They are just part of the journey of a moral decision, good or evil is established when a moral decision promotes the most loving result. Actions are extrinsically good or bad depending on the consequences. Love is the only universal

2. Love is the ruling norm in ethical decision-making and replaces all laws Fletcher stated that 'The ruling norm of Christian decisions is love: nothing else'. What he means by this is that Love is the only ruling norm; i.e. it is the only thing that should be considered when making decisions. Laws should only be obeyed in the interests of love, not for the law's sake.

Secondly, through the teaching of Paul:

3. Love and justice are the same thing – justice is love that is distributed

Fletcher stated that 'for justice is love distributed, nothing else.' What he meant by this was that love is always fair and will result in justice, because love is meant to be something practical, if love was properly shared, there would be no injustice. This type of love is calculating and preferential it takes action when it sees injustice. (synoptic link to liberation theology can be made)

Also, in the case of a child starving, stealing food would not be wrong because if justice had taken place there would be no child starving in the first place. So in this ethical decision-making situation, it is only correct that stealing be allowed to allow justice to prevail.

Fletcher says 'Love rolls its sleeves up', to act in every instance of injustice as love and justice cannot be separated within Christianity. So, Fletcher states 'Justice is Christian love using its head, calculating its duties, obligations, opportunities, resources ... Justice is love coping with situations where distribution is called for.' In other words, we cannot act lovingly without an action. (synoptic link to Bonhoeffer)

4. Love wills the neighbor's good regardless of whether the neighbor is liked or not.

Fletcher states 'Love wills the neighbor's good regardless of whether the neighbor is liked or not'. By this, he means that if you are selective with love, it's not agape, it is more like eros (sexual love) or philia (friendship love), which is based on your own personal motive which agape love is not. Surmised in the term 'Love your neighbor', your neighbor is everybody, and agape love goes out to everyone; not just those people whom we like, but also those we dislike. Agape is a non-selfish love that is unconditional and doesn't ask for anything in return.

5. Love is the goal or end of the act and that justifies any means to achieve that goal

Fletcher states that 'Only the end justifies the means, nothing else.' What he means by this is if actions are done with love as the motive they are correct, no matter what the action is. This is a relativist and teleological approach, as each situation is taken on its own merits, and in each situation, Q the outcome should be thought about. This means that the bearer of a moral dilemma should not act before they have thought of the consequences that the actions may have. When someone said to Fletcher 'The end doesn't justify the means', he said 'Then what on earth does?'. In the case of Situation Ethics, an action would not be taken unless its consequence was the most loving outcome, and if it provides the most loving outcome any action is justified.

Also, this can be seen in the life of Bonhoeffer who joined the resistance in Nazi Germany, where he was involved in lying and allegedly taking part in an assassination attempt on Hitler in order to end the suffering of the Jewish people and end the war. The end, putting an end to the war, justifies the means, of lying and murder through attempting the assignation of Hitler. Showing that love is the end goal, whether something is lawful is irrelevant.

6. Love decides on each situation as it arises without a set of laws to guide it Fletcher states that 'Love decisions are made situationally, not prospectively.' By this he means that love decides on each decision as it rises, without laws to decide, there should be no set ideas of what is a right or wrong action until you are in the situation. Within each situation, you decide there and then what the most loving thing to do is. Decisions should be made primarily on whether or not love is served in the situation.

He used the example of Jesus to show this, using the woman caught in adultery. Woman caught in Adultery (John 8:1-11) At dawn, he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?". "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." In this case, Jesus decided there and then what to do when he chose to tell her 'Go now and leave your life of sin'. He distanced himself from legalistic and rule-based systems such as the approach of the Pharisees. The Bible states that adultery is wrong as outlined in the Ten Commandments, during the time of Jesus, the penalty for such a crime was death. Jesus however chose to spare her life, instead asking her to reform instead.

This shows us that each individual situation should be approached based upon its own merits not on a pre-decided rule but on love. Much like Bonhoeffer's 'single-minded obedience' Fletcher argues that we must instinctively make decision as and when the situation arises.

Advantages of using the 6 propositions to make moral decisions: Provide a clear framework that helps to understand how to understand what is meant by agape when making moral decisions and they help to prevent situation ethics from being entirely individualistic and subjective. 1st Proposition encourages people to adopt a more loving character as individuals as an action that lacks compassion can never be deemed as good. 2nd & 6th Propositions ensure each situation is thorough which allows for the true complexity of human life rather than just trying to apply arbitrary rules which are inflexible and can be damaging e.g 'do not lie' in the case of the axe murderer it is obvious that we should lie. Takes a realistic account of this damaged society we live in and comprehends that the most loving thing these days is not always as obvious as applying a rule. Modern moral decision-making requires needs flexibility with the rejection of absolute rules. Disadvantages of using the 6 propositions to make moral decisions: As they are consequential they will always have a flaw as we can never be sure of the outcome and nowhere in his ethics does he overcome this challenge. For example, in the sacrificial adultery, the war ended two months later so she would have been released, we couldn't have known that but we also couldn't ensure that the husband would welcome her back and take on the child that was not hers, it was a risky decision. Applying rules makes a faster and more accurate decision-making process. Without rules, situation ethics fails to see the importance of rules to limit harm for some people in some circumstances.