B) Bernard Hoose's Proportionalism

Hoose's book: 'Proportionalism: The American Debate and its European Roots'
Proportionalist approach is visible in Aquinas's just war theory
Proportionalism holds that there are certain moral rules that it can never be right to go against, unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it
E.g. secondary precept 'abortion is wrong' should always be followed because it breaks the primary precept of reproduction, unless there is a proportionate reason to abort (e.g the pregnancy harms the mothers life)
This is similar to the doctrine of double effect
Hoose's proportionalist maxim: 'It is never right to go against a principle unless there is a proportionate reason which would justify it'
The proportionate reason should be based on the unique inidividual situation of the moral agent (like situation ethics)
However, this situation/ intention must be sufficiently unusual to provide a reason which would overturn otherwise firm rules based on the precepts of natural law
To decide whether an act is moral/ immoral, the intention of…

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