Applied Ethics: Return To Virtue

The latter half of twentieth Century, the western society met many problems, and was in “thepredicament of modernization”. The so-called “the predicament of modernization” mainly includes threeaspects: the instrumental rationality domination, with the capital logic and technology alienation. This is therealistic background of applied ethics. Theoretical background of applied ethics is reflected mainly as thefollows, in the western ethics theory, since the first half of twentieth Century, the meta ethics occupying thedominant position abandoned the exploration of moral norms and moral practice for its narrow ofresearching vision, and ultimately to their downfall. The contemporary social moral dilemma poses achallenge to ethics, and applied ethics have emerged as the times require. Applied ethics is successfullyrealized the transformation of research paradigm of ethics, mainly by three aspects: query meta ethics andreturn to the practice research,"on the problem" steering and the reconstruction of the new code of ethics.Since twentieth Century sixty or seventy years, applied ethics development so far, its branches are moreand more, more and more fine division, family quickly is huge, and the branch field also received no smallachievement.But undeniable is, the subject system of Applied Ethics overall is still very immature, many ofits basic concepts, properties, methods and other controversial, inconclusive. Even their own whether canbe used as an independent discipline and is still in doubt. Theoretical predicament inevitably leads to itsutility in practice greatly, in solving practical problems is often passive, hysteresis and blindness, far failedto reach the expected value of applied ethics.Applied ethics is pointing to the specific problems in specific areas, the “application”characteristics cannot be denied as a branch of ethics value theory meaning. Applied ethics still be a valueoriented discipline, still need a whole value theory as basic premise. The revival of virtue ethics bringsopportunity and hope to the development of applied ethics at the right moment. Firstly, all kinds of moralproblems and moral paradox that applied ethics solve in the end is problems between human beings, itsessence is starting from the people and then point to value people. And the essence of virtue ethics is toshape humanity, it is around actors--human and expansion theory, the virtue ethics practice and ethics as people in the pursuit of the first goal. The virtue ethics as the theoretical premise, the value basis, makespeople to be active to make good choices in a realistic problem, a virtuous person behavior is good practicefor itself. Secondly, virtue is the inherent difference between human and other animal, the embodiment ofself-discipline overall personal unity of existence and as a moral person. Virtue is a kind of inner statuscomes in any situation, as for the most lasting and stable thing of people shows the unity and stabilization.In addition, the moral activity is a kind of independent choice of activity, it is selective. Out of range ofstandard and system, inner virtue guides actors pursues kind spontaneous and make the best proper choicethrough uniting consciousness, knowledge and emotion. The dilemma that applied ethics can’t solve ethicalnorm is well avoided, solve the problems such as blindness, passivity and hysteresis of applied ethics inreal life. Finally, virtue is a kind of practical spirit, is closely linked to the practive. Practive plays adetermined role in getting virtue, only through constant practive, the virtue can be cultivated. So virtueethics as a practical theory is inclined to goodness, which can’t guide applied ethics in the form of valuepremise. And it can’t be as a theory on the shelf. Virtue guides practive, and practice supplements andperfects virtue.The secular development of applied ethics attracts many scholars’ attention on value. The revivalof virtue ethics provides a perfect orientation to applied ethics. At the same time, the social developmentalso cannot do without norms, rules. Therefore, applied ethics also needs the double affection of virtueethics and normative ethics. It leads to failure if we try to solve the problems of applied ethics just bypaying attention to one aspect. So regarding virtue ethics and normative theory as core theory and edgetheory is un neutral, the two should dialogue equally, combine perfectly in applied ethics. The combinationmakes the moral subjects’ behavior not only ruled by external rules but also supervised by virtue, which isconductive to the unit of moral heteronomy and self-discipline, makes human act according to the inherentlaw of moral life.