situation ethics

American  

noun

1. a view of ethics that deprecates general moral principles while emphasizing the source of moral judgments in the distinctive characters of specific situations.

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Etymology

Origin of situation ethics

Translation of German situationsethik (1950)

Example Sentences

This is, in effect, a return to situation ethics.

From Salon • Mar. 2, 2014

"And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them."

From Slate • Mar. 9, 2011

It would have been preferable to have written the article exclusively on Mr. Fletcher's book rather than to implicate others in a notion of situation ethics that I find both philosophically, theologically and morally unviable.

From Time Magazine Archive

As defined in a widely read book by Episcopalian Joseph Fletcher, situation ethics holds that there are always circumstances in which absolute principles of behavior break down.

From Time Magazine Archive

Throughout society, clear-cut distinctions between morally right and wrong are being replaced by situation ethics.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai