Towards a hermeneutics of life practice for welfare professionals in the age of the ecological imperative

摘要

Volz argues that the task of ethics can no longer be limited to the familiar questionsudof moral theory in the age of modernity: the questions of morality or right conductudfor the autonomous individual (Volz, 1993; Kiesel and Volz, 2004). This is theudframework that has formed the conventional ethics of social work as an individualudtherapy. Social work, Volz proposes, should now address itself to the task ofudenabling the individual to choose and live a life as a member of a specific culturaludcommunity, who at least potentially possesses a full and specific conception of theudgood life particular to his biography and socio-cultural circumstances (Volz, 2003).udSuch a move would recover the classical quest of philosophical ethics: for the goodudlife and human flourishing. Volz proposes that the ‘heart of social work’ should be aud‘Lebensführungshermeneutik’ or ‘hermeneutics of life practice’ in which theudprofessional aims above all to help the client discover the meaning of the life heudwishes to lead.udIn this paper I will consider the role not only of social work but of welfare policyudand practice more generally in promoting the realisation of the good life. Theudtraditional discourse of professional ethics in the social professions has turned onudrespect and human rights. More recently it has begun to address itself moreudexplicitly to wider questions of the good life and human flourishing, not merely inudthe abstract, but in particular real communities and cultural circumstances. Theudendeavours of professional ethics in the welfare professions lie within mainstreamudwestern political theory, social policy and state sponsored welfare practice. As suchudthey are primarily oriented towards human flourishing; they are informed by whatudanalysts of environmental thought often refer to as an anthropocentric perspective.