An Inquiry About Situation Ethics Within The Scope Of Marxism

Fletcher was a famous American ethicist in the 20 th century,his Situation Ethics had a huge influence to the development of ethics.This paper traces the realistic condition of Situation Ethics and its cultural thought origins,conducted a systematic study of Situation Ethics.It‘s originates from Christian ethics from the teeth outwards, but in fact it’s inherited the Pragmatism.It has played a important part in the long run of western ethics’ history.We use Marx’s historical materialism and dialectical materialism to analyze and criticize Situation Ethics.From the stand of historical materialism points out:Ethics as the superstructure is the product of the specific historical period,only by meeting the demands of the times so can ethics have a vigorous vitality. In modern society,Christian Legalism sanctified religious disciplines was inappropriate, as Fletcher points out, Fletcher aware of this matter and attempt to correct it, he has put forward a method to solve the moral dilemmas which according to principle of love and use the method of the situation,tryingto balance the flexibility and the principle of moral decision,both avoid the rigidity of the Legalism and the wayward of the Antinomianism, emphasized the value of justice,embodies the human-centered moral humanism and the golden mean of the Confucian school, promote the secularization of the Christian ethics and the the production of the Bioethics.It has enlightening significance to our daily moral choice.But Situation Ethics also has it’s limitations.Fletcher isn’t a conscious materialist,he can’t use the view of materialism to evaluate Christian torahs,norms, and even the laws.From the standpoint of Marxism,torahs, norms,and the laws,are all summed up from the essence of moral practice, it’s the crystallization of human experience,although they are not truth,but it has a lot of reasonable compositions,it is a preliminary grasp of the moral laws.It was unwise to deny those values.In addition,vague and general God’s love,ignore means morality,ignore the moral’s emotions,excessive reliance on people’s moral consciousness,and so on, makes Situation Ethics fall into the stereotype of moral relativism,when face the specific moral dilemma it’s unable to give a clear answer.Based on that,we put forward a viewpoint of collectivism circumstantial ethics and a general procedure of moral conflict solving based on the Marxist,it’s en inspiration of Fletcher’s Situation Ethics.we believe that,Fletcher’s method cannot solve the complicated moral conflicts.To solve the moral conflicts,the first thing we need to do is to define moral subjects, tobe listed them as much as possible, and analyze the responsibilities and obligations on each subject.Second, analyze the multiple values involved in decision,weigh the pros and cons with the cost-benefit analysis,consider the benefits and costs of each scheme,in order to predict the consequences, and then select the optimal plan which can achieve more revenue,then finally,reach our destinations——the solution of the moral conflicts and the break of ethical dilemmas.