On May 23, 2026, at 14:00, the 399th Lun Dao · Celebrity Lecture of School of Public Administration was successfully held in Conference Room 634A, Xingmin Building. Professor Sun Chunchen, an doctoral supervisor from Institute of Philosophy of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was honored to be the keynote speaker for this lecture, bringing the topic of “Applied Ethics and Social Governance” to the students. Professor Li Zhixiang served as the moderator of the lecture. Graduate students from School of Public Administration actively participated in the lecture.

Professor Li Zhixiang gave a detailed introduction of Professor Sun Chunchen’s personal experience, research fields and academic achievements, and expressed a warm welcome to Professor Sun Chunchen.

Professor Sun Chunchen introduced the topic against the background of the era of technological ethics governance. He argued that with the exponential development of science and technology and the rapid arrival of the digital risk society, technological governance tools may lose their direction if ethical regulations are lacking. During the formal lecture, Professor Sun first proposed that applied ethics represents the contemporary form of practical wisdom. He emphasized that applied ethics is not simply the application of theoretical frameworks, but rather a form of practical wisdom that involves weighing judgments and seeking solutions in specific contexts. Methodologically, it features case-based reasoning, stakeholder analysis, interdisciplinary deliberation, and practice-oriented approaches. Contemporary applied ethics, he noted, must directly confront harsh realities and emphasize a balance of diverse values. Second, Professor Sun interpreted the framework of responsible good governance. He stressed that good governance possesses six core qualities: legitimacy, transparency, accountability, responsiveness, effectiveness, and inclusiveness. Contemporary society faces three major structural contradictions—uncertainty of risks and fragmentation of knowledge, diversity of values and difficulty in reaching consensus, and technological autonomy versus human alienation—making it all the more necessary to regard ethics as the soul of good governance. Third, Professor Sun focused his analysis on the ethical challenges of four major governance focal points. The first is justice and discrimination in the algorithmic society, which requires writing fairness into code. The second is the boundaries of biopower, which demands setting red lines for the design of life. The third is data sovereignty and privacy, which calls for finding a balance between sharing and control. The fourth is the intergenerational ethics of ecological civilization, which requires governance responsible to the future. Fourth, Professor Sun introduced five major mechanisms of ethical governance. He briefly outlined: value-sensitive design and the embedding of technological ethics, multi-stakeholder co-governance and ethical deliberation platforms, intelligent synergistic governance combining soft law and hard law, responsibility allocation and traceability systems, and the cultivation of ethical literacy across society. Finally, Professor Sun presented the exploration and wisdom of Chinese ethical governance.

During the interactive session, Professor Sun Chunchen engaged in in-depth discussions with the faculty and students present on topics such as "the development trends of ethics review committees," and the atmosphere was lively. In his concluding remarks, Professor Li Zhixiang spoke highly of the lecture. He noted that Professor Sun's report focused on ethical governance in the technological era, comprehensively addressing cutting-edge ethical issues across various domains of technological society, and deeply grasped the unique contradictions of social governance in the technological age, reflecting an academic commitment to seeking responsible solutions for social development. The lecture, rich in references and thought-provoking, not only broadened the students' research perspectives on applied ethics but also provided profound insights for them to practice the spirit of ethics in their respective fields in the future. The lecture concluded successfully with warm applause.