The School of Philosophy and Sociology and the Lanzhou University Transcultural Research Institute held the 1st Cultural Research and Restoration of Moral Consensus Workshop in Yifu Science Building on July 28, 29. Since different cultures have different morals and globalization results in more intensive communication, cooperation and conflicts between different cultural groups, without some kind of moral consensus, a better communication and cooperation would not be possible. And besides, since modernization and the ideas adopted from the West conflict with the traditional Chinese ideas, how to promote a sound development of social order is to meet its challenge.

In this workshop, fourteen scholars gave their answers to “how to construct a moral consensus”. LIU Wei, associate professor from Renmin University of China, discussed about how Aristotle achieves a moral consensus by reviewing his assertion “man is by nature a political animal”. CHEN Hao, associate professor from Tsinghua University, discussed about Hegel’s freedom of citizens and what kind of political constitution would ensure its realization. Dr. YU Lu from Hunan Normal University gave a report about a possible moral consensus in modern society provided by Rawls. NI Wei, associate professor from Shandong University, discussed about the school of neo-natural law’s contribution to the universality of value and the objectivity of moral. HU Ketao, associate professor from China University of Mining and Technology, pointed out that Xun Zi’s ethics shows a way leading to a moral consensus. LI Xiaochun, professor from Lanzhou University, stated that Li, which manifests itself in all things, provides a fundament for a moral consensus. Dr. SUN Baoxue from Hunan Normal University stated that moral consensus is not derived from a principle, but is constructed from special concrete principles. WEN Xianqing, associate professor from Hunan Normal University, discussed about how the constructivism of meta-ethics contributes to a moral consensus. YANG Zhihua, associate professor from Beijing Forestry University, pointed out that only the common interest of a community would lead to a moral consensus. ZHANG Yanliang, associate professor from Lanzhou University, provided a model of moral deduction, which solves the problems caused by moral relativism. WANG Yu, associate professor from Xidian University, discussed about the function of feeling in ethics from a phenomenological perspective. ZHANG Ruiming, associate professor from Lanzhou University, stated how the Chinese traditional ethics could be transformed into its modern form related to XIONG Shili’s theory of Ti. WANG Ce, associate professor from Xi’an University of Posts & Telecommunications, compared the different aspects of a moral consensus based on teleology between Macintyre and Wittgenstein. XU Liang, research fellow from Beijing International Studies University, discussed whether the USA foreign policy could lead to a moral consensus in international relation.

This workshop provided a good occasion to discuss about the solution of problems arisen in this era of multiple values. Since there are still quite a lot of problems related to a moral consensus remain and arise, further workshops are expected.