situation ethics

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of situation ethics¹

Translation of German situationsethik (1950)

Example Sentences

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

From Salon

He later said the shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech stemmed from the same “situation ethics” of liberals.

From BusinessWeek

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 Salon

"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

This approach was promoted as early as 1966 by Episcopal theologian Joseph Fletcher's Situation Ethics: The New Morality.

From Time Magazine Archive