Achievements In The Narrative Virtuous Character

Stanley Hauerwas is one of the most noted ethicists who has revived Christian virtue ethics and was dubbed as America's best theologist in Time. Many studies about Maclntyre and Greek virtue ethics and communitarianism have been made in China. But study of virtue ethics related to Christianity is still insufficient. The Greek and Christian traditions are supposed to be the two foundations of the western culture. It follows that we should not just focus on one and neglect the other. Besides, the Christian morality has exerted an even bigger role in the west, especially in the mass culture of America. Thus I decide to study Hauerwas' virtue ethics. Our study is not just a general introduction to Hauerwas, but is an in-depth study of his thought set in the background of how Christian normative ethics faces the challenge of value crisis and moral puzzle. Contrast to the understanding of the conservatism and liberalism about the crisis and reconstruction of ethics, Hauerwas holds that the crisis of ethics is mainly modern liberalism, which is based on individual desires, seeking abstract and universal moral principle.How does Hauerwas provide his unique solutions to the problem? He believes that in order to get out of the contemporary moral dilemma, we should transfer the moral focus from on behavior and choice to person as an agent, and from universe to particular. That means the modern ethics should change their way of thinking and has a totally different understanding of moral reason. The end of the ethical construction is not to instruct people how to make a choice following the rules, but to build a person of virtue and character. Emphasis on virtue introduces the notion of history and skill into the reflection of the moral life. Highlighting a person of character means to display the activity and coherence of the character. What kind of method should we use to achieve these aims? Hauerwas' answer is the method of narrative, especially the Christian narrative. The identity of the self is shaped by narrative. The language concept and tradition also need to be displayed by narrative. Narrative can provide another kind of moral reason.In addition to his unique personal ethics, Hauerwas has his own special social ethics. Many scholars accused him of discarding public domain, but I think there must be some misunderstanding. In fact, he has his own idea about the relationship between the church and the state, and he objects to Gnosticism. We find some important Christian social ethicists want the Christians to take an active part in social life, andprovide moral foundation for society. However, Hauerwas argues that this just makes the Christians forget their own particular identity and task. Christian community should become an alternative Polis to secular society. Church should challenge the moral foundation of democratic society. Contrast to the common political community, Christian community is a peaceful one, for peace is the core of the Christian faith.While having a lot of supporters and followers, Hauerwas' theory has received many sharp criticisms, the dominant of which is sectarianism. It mainly refers to: 1, Hauerwas' thought is relativism in epistemology; 2, fideism and sectarianism in sociology; 3, irresponsibility in public political life. Hauerwas actively responds to these accusations and develops his own thought as well. I will choose the conflict between Hauerwas and M. Stackhouse as an illustration to analyze the disagreement between narrative ethics (virtue ethics) and modern liberalism (universalism) in Christian ethics. To conclude, I will show his influence from three aspects: 1, It gives us a unique idea of moral reason. Hauerwas' theory further helps people realize the historical dimension of moral subject; the significance of narrative is to help people understand the process of acquisition of moral vision. 2, It gives us a revelation to understand the relationship between the religious community and social life. It helps people challenge the moral foundation of liberalism. Emphasis on the particul...