Six Fundamental Propositions Flashcards
(6 cards)
What is the first of Fletcher’s Six Fundamental Principles?
Love only is always good:
- Love is the only intrinsic good; all other actions are good or bad depending on whether they promote love.
Example: A lie is not wrong in itself but is wrong if it harms people. If a lie promotes love, it can be justified.
What is the second principle?
Love is the only norm:
- Love replaces all laws, including the Ten Commandments. Laws are only useful if they serve love.
What is the third principle?
Love and Justice are the same:
- Justice is love applied to society, ensuring fair treatment for all.
Example: Starving children or unfair imprisonment show a lack of love distributed.
Key Quote: “Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else.”
- Fletcher links this principle to agapeic calculus, where the outcomes of actions are evaluated by how much love they generate.
What is the fourth principle?
Love is not liking:
- Love is unconditional, requiring no emotional attachment or personal benefit.
Example: Martin Luther King Jr. described agape as “creative, redemptive goodwill to all men.”
Key Quote: “Love wills the neighbour’s good whether we like him or not.”
Fletcher contrasts agape with eros (romantic love), storge (familial love), and philia (friendship).
What is the fifth principle?
Love justifies the means:
The ends justify the means if the outcome promotes love.
Key Quote: “Only the end justifies the means; nothing else.”
Example: Fletcher references a Holocaust doctor who performed abortions to save women from being executed. Though the action (abortion) is controversial, it was justified by the loving outcome.
What is the sixth and last principle?
Love decides there and then:
- There are no universal moral absolutes; the most loving action depends on the situation.
Key Quote: “Love’s decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively.”
Example: Fletcher discusses the Thalidomide case where abortion was pursued to avoid severe birth defects.
