Abstract
The paper offers positive correlation between virtue ethics approach, recently discussed in professional ethics and professional law on Social Work that is being currently prepared in the Czech Republic. The correlation is not obvious.
There has always been contrast between law based ethics, often connected to inspirations from Kant's ethics, and virtue ethics approach drawing its inspiration in Aristotle's ethics. Professional ethics has been often perceived as essentially and conceptually based on Kantian ethics of duty and law, which is just what contemporary neo-aristotelian virtue ethics approaches in professional ethics question (e.g.
Banks, Ethics in professional life) mainly because Kantian ethics does not sufficiently take in to account character traits of the professional. Does it mean, that to come with a new professional law in Social Work is, at least from the point of view of virtue ethics, a step back? I argue that, in spite of the Kantian idea of a professional law, the new law can, in some respect, have a positive impact on social work.
Namely, that it can further our specifications and legitimizations of the concept of a good (well behaved) social worker, i.e. of virtues connected to his or her professional role.