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Joseph F. Fletcher

The Most Tragic Thing: 'To Cease To Love'

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By PAT GRANEY

Not to be daunted by
legalistic Christian dogma or
rigid moral institutions,
Visiting Medical Ethics
Professor Joseph F. Fletcher
approaches modern moral
dilemmas "situationally".

As the author of the highly
contested "Situation Ethics,"
the be-spectacled educator and
scholar has developed a
method, based upon loving
concern for people, which calls
for a circumstantial approach
to decision-making.

Guided By Ethical Maxims

The situationalist, according
to Mr. Fletcher, guided by
ethical maxims and experience,
centers his approach upon the
utilitarian ideal of "the greatest
good for the greatest number."
The individual is responsible
for creating a solution based
upon "agape" or neighborly
love.

"I contend that the only
Commandment is to love your
neighbor, your self and your
God," asserted the soft-spoken,
articulate theologian. "Most
people are willing to trade
creativity for security, I'm
not."

"The most terrible and
tragic thing that can happen to
people is not to cease to live,
but to cease to love," he
lamented. "It's loving that
makes a man or a woman."

"What I want us to do is to
get out of systems. We can't
escape all of the systems in our
society, but at least we can get
out of mental and moral
systems."

Mr. Fletcher came to the
University in the fall of 1970
to stay for a year. He
explained, "My wife and I have
enjoyed Charlottesville so
much, not only have we stayed
longer than expected, we are
indefinite about plans to
leave."

"Situation Ethics" adheres
to no absolutes except love
said Mr. Fletcher. The
situationalist must be aware of
the consequences of a decision
before he can act with "loving
concern."

Don't Need Conscience

"The whole point about
legalistic ethics, the ethics I
oppose, is that you don't have
to have any conscience. All
you need to know is the rule."
Mr. Fletcher remarked. "Then
you act according to what the
rule is, regardless of the
consequences."

Mr. Fletcher has been
criticized for ignoring the
Christian ethical view.

"I think there is no such
thing as Christian ethics," he
stated. "Ethically, Christians
and non-Christian could easily
agree as to what should be
done in any situation, and how
it should be done. The
difference comes into play
meta-ethically."

"Christians often give a
definite answer in terms of
ultimate sanctions, but the
three basic questions in all
ethical analysis are the "what",
the "how" and the "why." I
think the only distinctive thing
about so-called Christian ethics
is it sometimes answers the
why question."

Drug Laws An Example

Current drug laws serve as a
case in point, according to Mr.
Fletcher, where legislators have
not taken into account the
consequences.

"I think that the
consequences of our present
drug laws are misery, injustice
and injury to human beings."

Mr. Fletcher favors the
legalization of
non-psychedelics, and federal
care for addicts.

Sex to Mr. Fletcher is
justified in and out of
marriage, as long as it is loving,
"or motivated by concern for
others." He believes the
legalistic attitudes about
"virginity" are also too
restrictive.

"What we need to do is to
distinguish between chastity
and virginity. I know a lot of
extremely chaste people who
are certainly not virginal and I
know a lot of virgins, both

male and female, who are not
chaste," Mr. Fletcher
postulated with a twinkle in his
eye. "I can't imagine anything,
morally speaking, worse than a
technical virgin."

At the University Mr.
Fletcher has been involved in
panel discussions which review
modern ethical questions from
a legal, medical and ethical
standpoint. In a recent
discussion the panel examined
when a patient should be
declared medically dead.

"We are prepared as we
should be to discuss all of the
problems of consciousness that
arise in modern society posed
by technology, the new
medicine and so on," he
explained.

There has been some
speculation that Mr. Fletcher's
"new morality" has enveloped
the country in a wave of
permissiveness.

"My hunch is that
intellectually the country is