Slotte Emotionalism Virtue Ethics Research

Virtue ethicist Michael Slote, as one of the main representatives and a leader of sentimentalist,proposes a new theory--moral sentimentalist. Slote views natural emotion, empathy, as the basis of human nature and the defensive foundation of morality. Slote's sentimentalist contains two sections,normative ethics of sentimentalist and metaethics of sentimentalism,that is normative virtue ethics of sentimentalist. This paper researches primarily his the normative virtue ethics of sentimentalist.This thesis has four parts in all. The first part mainly analyzes the source of theory of moral sentimentalist virtue ethics,including Hume's Theory of sympathy,Feminist caring ethics and The contemporary moral psychology; The second part puts emphasis on expounding the psychological foundation of Slote's moral sentimentalist virtue ethics-empathy,and clarifies the pivotal role of empathy as a cement of the moral universe; The third part discusses the main idea of Slote's moral sentimentalist virtue ethics. He analyzes the connections between empathy and moral obligation and summarize his normative sentimentalism ethics that an act is required if and only if it expresses the agents'maturely empathic concern or care for other; The last part recounts the value and limitations of Slote's moral sentimentalist virtue ethics.