Nature,Goodness And Practical Wisdom

Moral naturalism is an ideological tradition that has existed for thousands of years,and it represents an effort to represent moral essence with naturalism.However,Moore’s argument of "the naturalistic fallacy" has plunged moral naturalism into a crisis.Based on Aristotle’s virtue theory,contemporary virtue ethics tries to reject the criticism of "the naturalistic fallacy" and establish a better moral naturalism theory.But the theory of natural teleology represented by Foot and Hursthouse and the theory of human life represented by Mac Intyre and Williams failed to achieve this goal.Mc Dowell realizes that the crisis of moral naturalism lies in the tension between reason and nature.Only by relieving the tension can the dichotomy between fact and value be lifted and the mind be connected to the world.Mc Dowell puts forward "the naturalism of second nature",which divides nature into two levels,distinguishes natural-scientific intelligibility from the kind of intelligibility of reasons,and provides naturalism with a spatial structure that could respond to reasons.The naturalism of second nature comes from the reflection on Aristotle’s practical wisdom,which is the second nature for people with virtue.As an appropriate contemporary understanding of Aristotle’s practical wisdom,the second nature reveals the reflective characteristics and intellectual dimensions of practical wisdom.Practical wisdom is the highest level of understanding of personal goodness,and possessing practical wisdom means that agents can carry out practical activities in a correct and good way.Practical syllogism can only be established on the premise of virtue.Ethical upbringing is the way to acquire practical wisdom.Virtuous people enter the space of reasons through ethical upbringing,and gain practical wisdom through Neurash’s reflection on ethical tradition.This paper will reflect on the moral naturalism of contemporary virtue ethics,try to resolve the dilemma of naturalism with Aristotle’s practical wisdom,and show the intellectual dimension of practical wisdom and Aristotle’s unique moral knowledge theory.