1. Explain How Fletchers Version of Situation Ethics Can Be Used to Decide on the Right Course of Action

Fletcher’s version of situation ethics was first developed in 1960 and can easily be used to decide the right course of action for each individual through reasoning. Fletcher was a Protestant Theologian who developed the theory of Situation Ethics in his book in 1966. Fletcher claimed that the principle of Situation Ethics was based on the Christian teaching to ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. Fletcher proposed that when faced with a moral dilemma, the right course of action is the most loving thing to do. He argued that the right choice is the most loving choice, and this will depend on the situation that one is faced with.

One of fletcher’s main principles was love. Through his book he depicts how the right course of action is the most loving course of action in any circumstance. The theory agape says that Christian love is not based on desire and does not depend on being love in return it is simply self-giving or agape. Fletcher based his thinking on that of St. Augustine. Love is not to be understood as an emotion. Christian love or agape means doing what is best for the other person unconditionally. An example given by fletcher is a mother with a promiscuous daughter does the right thing by condemning her underage sex and insisting she uses contraception.

For fletcher the most loving thing changes in every circumstance and will not be the same for every situation.   To help explain this fletcher uses “the four working principles” Pragmatism is the first. Pragmatism means for a course of action to be right, it has to be practical and it must work. For example, in the case of Jodie and Mary, conjoined twins, the Catholic Church wanted to let both of the girls die. To kill one, saving the other, would be an evil or bad act, they said. Fletcher would have disagreed. Letting both girls die is not pragmatic. It would be of more use, more practical, to save one girl at the expense of the other.

The second principle is relativism. This says that what is...