Ethical Implication of Virtue Ethics in "Red Doctors’ Spirit" / 中国医学伦理学

ABSTRACT

The red doctors’ spirit is a unique medical ethics thought in China, which is an ideological system contains many elements such as belief, moral sentiment and technical requirements. The red doctors’ spirit contains profound moral and ethical thoughts. From the perspective of Marxist virtue ethics, it conforms to the Marxist revolutionary heroism virtue view, takes the all-round and free development of human beings as the highest goodness, and advocates striving and dedicating to realize this goodness. From the perspective of western traditional virtue ethics, the red doctors’ spirit accords with the definition of ethical virtue in virtue theory. In particular, the assertion about "happiness" can provide an interpretation basis for its characteristics of "the more arduous the environment is, the more stimulated it can be". From the perspective of Confucian virtue ethics, the red doctors’ spirit is greatly influenced by the ethical requirements of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, courage and moral integrity, not fearing life and death, and martyrdom. The value of "virtue" of red doctor lies in the motivation of pursuing "perfection", which enables the practitioners to have more powerful moral self-discipline and emotional motivation than ordinary medical personnel, constantly transcend themselves, and protect people’s life safety and health.