Is Fletcher's situation ethics, with agape as the only absolute, a liberating and loving approach to morality, or is it too subjective and open to abuse?
Component 02 Situation ethics: Fletcher's agape, the four working principles (pragmatism, relativism, positivism, personalism) and the six fundamental principles, with strengths and weaknesses as an ethical theory.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to situation ethics. Covers Fletcher's principle of agape, the four working principles (pragmatism, relativism, positivism, personalism) and the six fundamental principles, with the strengths, weaknesses and AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
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What this dot point is asking
OCR Component 02 sets situation ethics, devised by Joseph Fletcher, as the second normative theory and a deliberate contrast with the rule-based natural law. Situation ethics is a relativist, teleological and agapeistic approach: there is one absolute, agape (selfless Christian love), and every other rule bends to it in the particular situation. You study the principle of agape, the four working principles and the six fundamental principles. The exam rewards explaining the method precisely and then evaluating whether love alone is a reliable moral guide.
The answer
Agape and the middle way
The four working principles
The six fundamental principles
Strengths and weaknesses
- Strengths: flexible and able to handle unique cases; person-centred; firmly scriptural (the love command); it avoids the harshness of pure legalism.
- Weaknesses: agape is vague and gives little concrete guidance; consequences are hard to predict, so "the most loving outcome" is uncertain; it can be used to justify almost anything ("love made me do it"); critics (including the 1966 Catholic and Protestant reactions) call it antinomian, subjective, and a licence for situational self-deception.
Examples in context
Try this
Q1. "Situation ethics gives no real guidance because love can justify anything." Discuss. [40 marks]
- What the marker wants. An AO2 essay weighing the flexibility and person-centredness of agape against its vagueness and openness to abuse, judging whether love alone is reliable guidance. AO1 out of 25, AO2 out of 15.
Q2. Assess whether "the end justifies the means" is an acceptable moral principle. [40 marks]
- Cue. Fletcher's fifth principle makes only love an end in itself, so means are justified by loving ends. Weigh this against deontological objections that some acts are wrong whatever the outcome, and judge.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H573/02 2019 (style)20 marksAssess the view that situation ethics provides a reliable basis for moral decision-making. (The full OCR tariff for this essay is 40 marks; the worked answer below is scaled to a 20-mark exemplar.)Show worked answer →
A 40-mark Component 02 essay on the six-level scheme (AO1 out of 25, AO2 out of 15). Explaining the theory earns AO1; the higher levels reward judging its reliability.
Explain (AO1). Fletcher makes agape (selfless, unconditional Christian love) the one absolute, and judges each act by whether it serves the most loving outcome. Four working principles (pragmatism, relativism, positivism, personalism) frame the method; six fundamental principles, including "love is the only norm" and "the end justifies the means", spell it out.
Evaluate (AO2). Strengths: flexible, person-centred, scriptural ("love your neighbour"), avoids rigid legalism. Weaknesses: agape is vague and hard to calculate; consequences are unpredictable; it can justify almost anything; critics call it antinomian and too subjective.
Judge. A top answer decides whether agape gives reliable guidance or leaves too much to individual judgement, and defends the verdict.
OCR H573/02 2022 (style)20 marksCritically assess the claim that situation ethics is too individualistic to be workable. (The full OCR tariff for this essay is 40 marks; the worked answer below is scaled to a 20-mark exemplar.)Show worked answer →
A levels-of-response essay testing AO1 understanding of situation ethics and AO2 evaluation of the individualism charge.
Explain. Fletcher rejects fixed rules in favour of the loving response to each unique situation, guided only by agape and the four working principles; the individual must weigh the situation and decide.
Evaluate. The charge: leaving each person to judge what love demands makes outcomes unpredictable and open to self-serving rationalisation, with no shared standard. The defence: agape is not arbitrary but an other-regarding, well-disposed love, and rules can still serve as guidelines ("illuminators") even if not absolutes.
Judge. A high-level answer weighs whether agape disciplines individual judgement enough to be workable, and reaches a justified conclusion.
Related dot points
- Component 02 Natural law: Aquinas's four tiers of law, the primary and secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, and the doctrine of double effect, with strengths and weaknesses as an ethical theory.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to natural law. Covers Aquinas's four tiers of law, the five primary precepts and the secondary precepts derived from them, real and apparent goods, and the doctrine of double effect, with the strengths and weaknesses and the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
- Component 02 Kantian ethics: the good will and duty, the categorical imperative and its three formulations (universal law, ends in themselves, kingdom of ends), and the summum bonum, with strengths and weaknesses.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to Kantian ethics. Covers the good will and acting from duty, the categorical imperative and its three formulations (universal law, ends in themselves, the kingdom of ends), and the summum bonum with the postulates of freedom, immortality and God, plus the strengths, weaknesses and AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
- Component 02 Utilitarianism: Bentham's hedonic calculus, Mill's higher and lower pleasures and harm principle, and the contrast between act and rule utilitarianism, with strengths and weaknesses.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to utilitarianism. Covers Bentham's principle of utility and hedonic calculus, Mill's qualitative distinction between higher and lower pleasures, the contrast between act and rule utilitarianism, and the strengths and weaknesses (calculation, the tyranny of the majority, justice) the exam asks you to evaluate.
- Component 03 Christian moral principles: the Bible as a source of moral teaching, the roles of reason, conscience and Church, the principle of love (agape), and the distinction between heteronomous and autonomous Christian ethics.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 03 guide to Christian moral principles. Covers the Bible as a source of moral teaching (inspired word, revealed law, moral commands), the roles of reason, conscience and Church, the principle of agape, and the heteronomous and autonomous approaches, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
- Component 02 Applied ethics (sexual ethics): premarital and extramarital sex and homosexuality, the application of natural law, situation ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism, and the influence of developments in religious belief.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 02 guide to sexual ethics. Covers premarital and extramarital sex and homosexuality, how natural law, situation ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism apply, and the influence of developments in religious belief, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level Religious Studies (H573) specification — OCR (2016)
- Joseph Fletcher, Situation Ethics: The New Morality — Westminster Press / Internet Archive (1966)