Abstract:

According to the purpose and mission of the ethics of science and technology, it is necessary for the ethics of science and technology to achieve the following four pivotal turns: the ethical turn, the life-oriented turn, the era-responsive turn, and the China-focused turn. To overcome the ignorance of ethical dimension in the ethics of science and technology, the ethical turn emphasizes that ethics is the underlying tone of scientific and technological activities and ethical attributes constitutes the fundamental characteristics of the ethics of science and technology. The life-oriented turn tackles the over-theorization of the ethics of science and technology, aiming to revert to life as the foundation of the ethics of science and technology and affirm its practical essence. The era-responsive turn counters the detached research approach in the ethics of science and technology, seeking to identify the contemporary themes of the ethics of science and technology and establish its role as a contemporary form of ethics. The China-focused turn addresses the westernization tendency of the ethics of science and technology, aiming to foster the establishment of an independent knowledge system for China’s ethics of science and technology. Among these four turns, the ethical turn serves as the premise, the life-oriented turn as the foundation, the era-responsive turn as the key, and the China-focused turn as the ultimate objective.

Key words: science and technology, ethics, turn