ABSTRACT
Eclipsed for decades by specialized areas such as the philosophy of science and the philosophy of language, ethical theory has reclaimed its place as one of the most active and intellectually exciting branches of philosophical inquiry. At the level of normative ethics where particular moral principles, ideals, and virtues are formulated for the evaluation of individual conduct and social institutions, moral philosophy has also opened up a variety of new lines of investigation. This chapter proposes to re-examine the role that social scientific inquiry, conceived of as an interpretative rather than an explanatory or scientific mode of analysis, can and should play in studies of applied and professional ethics. It seeks to raise some more general questions about the ends of social scientific inquiry and about the ethical vocation animating a commitment to the advance of social scientific understanding and knowledge. The model of application most prevalent in applied ethics is the so-called engineering model.
