Joseph Fletcher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joseph Francis Fletcher
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| Born | April 10, 1905 |
| Died | October 28, 1991 (aged 86) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | West Virginia University, Berkeley Divinity School, Yale University, London School of Economics |
| Occupation | Theologian, Episcopal priest, educator, author |
| Employer | Episcopal Theological School, Harvard University, University of Virginia |
| Known for | Situational ethics, biomedical ethics |
| Awards | Humanist of the Year |
Joseph Francis Fletcher (born April 10, 1905, in Newark, New Jersey – died October 28, 1991, in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an important American professor. He created a way of thinking called situational ethics in the 1960s. He was also a leader in a new field called bioethics. Bioethics looks at ethical questions that come up in medicine and biology. Fletcher started as an Episcopal priest. Later, he said he was an atheist.
Who Was Joseph Fletcher?
His Life and Work
Joseph Fletcher was a very busy and smart professor. He taught, spoke at many events, and wrote ten books. He also wrote hundreds of articles, book reviews, and translations.
From 1944 to 1970, he taught Christian Ethics at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also taught at Harvard Divinity School.
Fletcher was the first professor to teach medical ethics at the University of Virginia. He also helped start the Program in Biology and Society there. He stopped teaching in 1977.
In 1974, the American Humanist Association gave him the "Humanist of the Year" award. He was one of the people who signed the Humanist Manifesto. This document shares ideas about humanism.
One of his children, Joseph F. Fletcher Jr., became a historian.
Important Ideas and Writings
Joseph Fletcher shared many important thoughts about how we should live and make choices. Here are some of his famous quotes:
- "We need to educate people to the idea that the quality of life is more important than mere length of life. Our cultural tradition holds that life has absolute value, but that is really not good enough anymore. Sometimes, no life is better."
- "Ethics critically examines values and how they are to be acted out; but whether they are acted out or not, loyalty to them depends on character or personal quality, and so it follows that the quality of medicine depends on the character of its clinicians."
- "We ought to love people and use things; the essence of immorality is to love things and use people."
Fletcher wrote several important books that shared his ideas:
- 1954 Morals and Medicine
- 1966 Situation Ethics: The New Morality (This book was translated into 5 languages!)
- 1974 The Ethics of Genetic Control: Ending Reproductive Roulette
