Rethinking to Discourse of Ethics of Public Service and Ethical Praxis:From the Assumption of Human Nature
Li-Yi Hsu*
Abstract
The actions of public administrators are influenced by their values and beliefs. The value systems of justice and social equity, therefore, must be the major content of ethics of public service. Firstly, the author explicates the assumptions of human nature in dominant discourses of public administration that is the so-called managerialism containing determinism and atomism, and further analyzes the limitations. Secondly, this article redefines assumption of human nature about public administrator, and finally constructs the macro vision about ethics of public service and its praxis that public administrators should possess.
Keywords: public administrator, ethics of public service, assumption of human nature, active-social self
* Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, National Open University.