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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details A critical analytic literature review of virtue ethics for social work: beyond codified conduct towards virtuous social work Paul Webster Doctor of Social Work University of Sussex January 2011 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to in part to another University for the award of any other degree Signature Paul Webster i University of Sussex Paul Webster Doctor of Social Work A critical analytic literature review of virtue ethics: beyond codified conduct towards virtuous social work Thesis summary This submission is based on a critical analytical literature review of the moral paradigm of virtue ethics and a specific application of this to social work value discourse in search of lost identity. It echoes the philosophical academy's paradigmatic wars between 'act' and 'agent' appraisals in moral theory. Act appraisal theories focus on a person's act as the primary source of moral value whereas agent appraisal theories - whether 'agent- prior' or stricter 'agent-based’ versions - focus on a person’s disposition to act morally. This generates a philosophical debate about which type of appraisal should take precedence in making an overall evaluation of a person's moral performance. My starting point is that at core social work is an altruistic activity entailing a deep commitment, a 'moral impulse', towards the distressed 'other'. This should privilege dispositional models of value that stress character and good motivation correctly applied - in effect making for an ethical career built upon the requisite moral virtues. However, the neo-liberal and neo-conservative state hegemony has all but vanquished the moral impulse and its correct application. In virtue ethical language, we live in 'vicious' times. I claim that social work’s adherence to act appraisal Kantian and Utilitarian models is implicated in this loss. Kantian 'deontic' theory stresses inviolable moral principle to be obeyed irrespective of outcome: Utilitarian 'consequentualist' theory calculates the best moral outcome measured against principle. The withering of social work as a morally active profession has culminated in the state regulator's Code of Practice. This makes for a conformity of behaviour which I call 'proto-ethical' to distinguish it from 'ethics proper'. The Code demands that de-moralised practitioners dutifully follow policy, ii rules, procedures and targets - ersatz, piecemeal and simplistic forms of deontic and consequentualist act appraisals. Numerous inquiries into social work failures indict practitioners for such behaviour. I draw upon mainstream virtue ethical theory and the emergent social work counter discourse to get beyond both code and the simplified under-theoretisation of social work value. I defend a thesis regarding an identity-defining cluster of social work specific virtues. I propose two modules: 'righteous indignation’ to capture the heartfelt moral impulse, and 'just generosity' to mindfully delineate the scope and legitimacy of the former. Their operation generates an exchange relationship with the client whereby the social worker builds 'surplus value' to give back more than must be taken in the transaction. I construct a social work specific minimal-maximal 'stability standard' to anchor the morally correct expression of these two modules and the estimation of surplus value. In satisficing terms, the standard describes what is good enough but is also potentially expansive. A derivative social work practice of moral value is embedded in an historic 'care and control' dialectic. The uncomfortable landscape is one of moral ambiguity and paradoxicality, to be navigated well in virtue terms. I argue that it is incongruous to speak of charactereological social worker virtues and vices and then not to employ the same paradigm to the client’s moral world. This invites a functional analysis of virtue. The telos of social work - our moral impulse at work - directs us to scrutiny of the unsafe household. Our mandate is the well-being of the putative client within, discoursed in terms of functional life-stage virtues and vicious circumstance. I employ the allegorical device of a personal ethical journey from interested lay person to committed social worker, tracking the character-building moral peregrinations. I focus on two criticisms of virtue ethics - a philosophical fork. It is said that virtue ethical theory cannot of itself generate any reliable, independently validated action guidance. In so far as it does, the theory will endorse an as-given, even reactionary, criterion of right action, making 'virtue and vice' talk the bastion of the establishment power holders who control knowledge. I seek to repudiate these claims. Given that this demands a new approach to moral pedagogy, the practical implications for the suitability and training of social workers are discussed. iii Table of contents page Introduction Overview 1 Some basic concepts 1 Researcher identity and VE counter discourse 3 The philosophical research journey 6 The paradigmatic wars 8 Organisation and structure of material 10 Chapter 1 The logic of VE inquiry Introduction 15 Character traits and virtue 15 The standard model 18 Features of the redundancy charge 20 An alternative model 22 The moral impulse 23 Ethical careering 25 Sentiment and justification 25 Chapter 2 VE and codified value Introduction 27 Concept amnesia 27 Integrity 29 Perfectly ethical and perfectly safe social work 30 The hubris of code language 32 The power of codes 33 Acting well and acting correctly 34 The tyranny of infantalisation 36 Chapter 3 VE supererogation and moral paradox Introduction 39 Updated social work VE theory 39 iv Supererogative character 42 Types of supererogation 44 The doctrine of double effect and moral remainder 48 Paradoxicality and a laudable moral world 49 The bystander effect 50 Chapter 4 VE ethical labouring and theoretical synthesis Introduction 52 Virtue ethics' postmodern neo-classical revival 52 The gap of omissions and extra-vulnerability 54 VE motivation and Slote 56 VE qualified motivation and Hursthouse 59 VE target theory and Swanton 60 VE axiological theory and Hurka 62 Chapter 5 VE and moral schism Introduction 65 VE continence theory 65 Self-effacement 67 Implausibility of standard moral theory 69 An internalism argument 70 The tu quoque response 72 Standard learning theory 75 Chapter 6 VE fragility and situationism Introduction 78 The situationists' deflationary claim 78 Motivational self-sufficiency 80 A narrative for checking failure 81 Moral expertise 83 Tacit reasonableness 84 Profiled knowledge outwith rules 86 Phronesis and particularism 88 v Chapter 7 VE exchange-value and functionalism Introduction 90 Creative social work 90 Protection and repair of lived ordinariness 91 The social work gaze 93 Patterns of exchange welfare 94 Virtue’s middle way 96 Caring relations as modes of acknowledgment 98 Chapter 8 VE supervaluations and modules Introduction 101 Prototype and role-contoured virtue 101 The major and minor premisses 103 The Sorites paradox and satisficing theory 105 Towards a stability standard 107 Righteous indignation and just generosity 111 Chapter 9 VE heroism and moral indebtedness Introduction 115 The story of Irena Sendler 115 The contoured gift relationship 116 Pure and applied non-indifference 117 Contested moral fuzziness 120 Hermeneutics and communicative action 121 Ethical error theory and moral relativisms 123 The virtue of perspective and proportionality 125 Chapter 10 A VE framework of value Introduction 128 The moral researcher 128 Client and carer attributions 130 Comfortable moral fuzziness 132 Undogmatic communitarianism 135 vi Minimal and maximal value 137 Truth, hope and sincerity 140 Chapter 11 The VE project Introduction 142 Recovery of identity, self and ethical space 142 Narrative self versus bureaucratic self 144 The supererogative reframed self 145 The righteously indignant, justly generous self 148 The reconnected puzzled self 149 The practical transgressive self 150 Discourse sanctuaries 151 Social work education 152 Recruitment and selection 154 The curriculum 158 Interprofessional education 162 The user and carer movement 163 My professional research journey 166 References 171 Appendix 189 Peterson & Seligman: Classification of Character Strengths 1 Introduction Overview This thesis is based on a critical analytical literature review of the moral paradigm of virtue ethics. From it I construct a framework theory of value which I claim reconnects with lost social work identity and offers us action guidance in line with that identity. The precursor to this, my critical analytical study (Webster, 2006), looked at the emergence of virtue ethics as a counter discourse to the social work mainstream. I identified some major conceptual challenges resonating from the paradigm. A small number of social work commentators