Does Fletcher's situation ethics, by making agape the one absolute, give a genuinely Christian and workable moral method, or does its rejection of rules make it dangerously subjective?
Component 3 Fletcher's situation ethics: agape as the one absolute, the four working principles and six fundamental principles, conscience as a verb, and its application to life and death, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to Fletcher's situation ethics. Covers agape as the sole absolute, the four working principles, the six fundamental principles, conscience as a verb, the legalism/antinomianism contrast, and its application to issues of life and death, with the strengths and weaknesses the exam asks you to evaluate.
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What this dot point is asking
Eduqas Component 3 (Theme 3, Teleological Ethics) studies Fletcher's situation ethics, a teleological, consequentialist Christian theory that makes agape (selfless love) the one absolute. You learn the contrast with legalism and antinomianism, the four working principles, the six fundamental principles, the idea that conscience is a verb, and the application to issues of life and death. The exam rewards explaining the theory precisely (AO1) and evaluating whether it is a genuinely Christian and workable method or dangerously subjective (AO2).
The answer
The middle way: agape against legalism and antinomianism
The four working principles
The six fundamental principles
Application, strengths and weaknesses
Applied to life and death, situation ethics has no fixed rule for or against abortion or euthanasia: it asks only what agape requires in this situation (an abortion might be the most loving act for a particular woman; euthanasia might be loving for a particular sufferer). Strengths: flexible, person-centred, gives one clear principle, and fits Jesus's own readiness to put love above law (healing on the Sabbath, the woman caught in adultery). Weaknesses: the lack of fixed rules can be subjective and rationalise almost anything; "the end justifies the means" can excuse terrible acts; predicting the most loving outcome is uncertain; "love" is vague; and it offers little guidance under pressure.
Examples in context
Try this
Q1. Explain the role of agape in Fletcher's situation ethics. [part (a), AO1, 20 marks]
- What the marker wants. Accurate account of agape as the sole absolute, the most loving thing as the right act, and its priority over all other rules (with conscience as a verb), organised and using specialist terms. AO1 band.
Q2. "Situation ethics is a genuinely Christian ethical theory." Evaluate this view. [part (b), AO2, 30 marks]
- Cue. Weigh its grounding in agape and Jesus's practice against the objection that it abandons biblical commands and could justify acts scripture forbids, and judge. AO2 band, the larger 30-mark tariff.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Eduqas A120 2019 (style)20 marksExplain Fletcher's situation ethics, including the four working principles and the six fundamental principles. [part (a), AO1, 20 marks]Show worked answer →
A part (a) AO1 question on the five-band scheme. Explain the theory accurately.
Fletcher (Situation Ethics, 1966) rejects both legalism (rigid rules) and antinomianism (no rules) for a middle way: in each situation, do the most loving thing. Agape (selfless Christian love) is the one absolute; all other rules are guidelines that bend to love. The four working principles: pragmatism (the course must work), relativism (no fixed rules but love), positivism (love is a faith choice, freely posited), personalism (people, not laws, come first). The six fundamental principles include: only love is intrinsically good; love is the only norm; love and justice are the same (justice is love distributed); love wills the neighbour's good regardless of feeling; only the end (love) justifies the means; love decides situationally, not prescriptively. Conscience is a verb (the act of deciding), not a faculty. A top band answer states agape, the four working and key fundamental principles.
Eduqas A120 2021 (style)20 marks"Situation ethics is too subjective to be a reliable moral guide." Evaluate this view. [part (b), AO2, the full Eduqas tariff is 30 marks; the worked answer below is scaled to a 20-mark exemplar.]Show worked answer →
A part (b) AO2 question; the top band rewards balanced argument and a justified conclusion.
For the view: with no fixed rules, situation ethics lets the individual decide what is loving, which can rationalise almost anything (the end justifies the means could excuse terrible acts); predicting outcomes is uncertain; "love" is vague; it offers little guidance under pressure. Against: it is flexible and person-centred, fits Jesus's own practice of putting love above law (healing on the Sabbath), and gives a single clear principle; agape is a settled commitment, not mere feeling. Weigh whether the freedom is dangerous subjectivity or realistic moral maturity, and conclude. Links to utilitarianism (both teleological).
Related dot points
- Component 3 utilitarianism: Bentham's act utilitarianism (principle of utility, hedonic calculus) and Mill's rule utilitarianism (higher and lower pleasures, the harm principle), with their application to life and death and their strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to utilitarianism. Covers Bentham's act utilitarianism (the principle of utility and the hedonic calculus), Mill's rule utilitarianism (higher and lower pleasures, the harm principle), the application to issues of life and death, and the strengths and weaknesses (calculation, justice, demandingness) the exam asks you to evaluate.
- Component 3 the application of ethical theories to issues of human life and death: abortion and euthanasia under natural law, proportionalism, situation ethics and utilitarianism, and whether ethical theories can be applied, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to the application of ethical theories to issues of human life and death. Covers how natural law, proportionalism, situation ethics and utilitarianism each handle abortion and voluntary euthanasia (sanctity versus quality of life), and whether ethical theories can be reliably applied, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
- Component 3 Aquinas's natural law: the four tiers of law, the primary and secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, the doctrine of double effect, and its application to issues of life and death, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to Aquinas's natural law. Covers the four tiers of law (eternal, divine, natural, human), the primary and secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, the four cardinal and three theological virtues, the doctrine of double effect, and its application to abortion and euthanasia, with the strengths and weaknesses the exam asks you to evaluate.
- Component 3 Hoose's proportionalism: the distinction between moral and pre-moral (ontic) goods and evils, the idea of a proportionate reason, its relation to natural law, and its application to life and death, with strengths and weaknesses.
An Eduqas Component 3 (Religion and Ethics) guide to Bernard Hoose's proportionalism. Covers the distinction between moral and pre-moral (ontic) goods and evils, the principle that there must be a proportionate reason to permit a pre-moral evil, its relation to natural law, and the charge that it collapses into consequentialism, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
- Component 1 religious identity through ethical teaching: the key moral principles of Christianity (love of neighbour, agape, forgiveness, sanctity of life, imago Dei) and how they shape Christian identity and conduct.
An Eduqas Component 1 (Christianity) guide to the moral principles that shape religious identity. Covers love of neighbour and agape, God's love as the model for human behaviour, forgiveness, the sanctity of life, humans made in the image of God (imago Dei), and the tension between grace and law, with the evaluation the exam rewards.
Sources & how we know this
- Eduqas A Level Religious Studies specification (A120QS) — WJEC Eduqas (2016)
- Joseph Fletcher, Situation Ethics: The New Morality — Westminster John Knox Press (1966)