Applied ethics: what kind of ethics and what kind of ethicist?

Types of ethics are classified as more or less holistic in three respects. Current forms of applied ethics (among them reflective equilibrium) are criticized for being reductionist rather than holistic. It is claimed that applied ethics ought to be of a holistic kind. Two examples (tracing of hereditary cancer and active euthanasia) are used for maintaining that a reductionist ethic is of limited use for solving practical moral problems. Some possible roles of the ethicist are discussed. It is maintained that the ethicist ought to be a life philosopher mapping the moral landscape or a personal mentor rather than being a policeman or an ethics engineer.