Professional Ethics

Profession:- Taking these to be paradigm instances of profession: Medicine Dentistry Veterinary Medicine Law Architecture Accounting Five features distinguish what we now call profession from other types of occupations. “Entrance into a professing typically requires an extensive period of training and this training is of an intellectual character.” “Professionals’ knowledge and skills are vital to the well-being of the larger society.” “Professionals usually have a monopoly or near monopoly on the provision of professional services.” “Professionals often have an unusual degree of autonomy in the work place.” “Professionals claim to be regulated by ethical standards, usually embodied in a code of ethics.” The importance of ethics to profession: - The early meaning of the term profession and its cognates referred to a free act of commitment to a way of life. The earliest meaning of the adjective professed referred to the activity o...

Introduction: Dealing with the moral issues is often perplexing. How, exactly, should we think through an ethical issue? What questions should we ask? What factors should we consider? The first step in analyzing moral issues is obvious but not always easy: Get the facts. Some moral issues create controversies simply because we do not bother to cheek the facts. This first step, although obvious, is also among the most important and the most frequently overlooked. But having the facts is not enough. Facts by themselves only tell us what is; they do not tell us what ought to be. In addition to getting the facts, resolving an ethical issue also requires an appeal to values. Philosophers have developed five different approaches to values to deal with moral issues. The Utilitarian Approach: Utilitarianism was conceived in the 19 th century by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill to help legislators determine which laws were morally best. Both Bentham and Mill sugge...

General Moral Principles General moral principle make some general statement about what is morally right or wrong or good or bad or what we should or ought or should not or ought not to. Examples: You should not take what does not belong to you without permission of the owner. If you make a promise, you ought to keep it. Particular Moral Judgments Not all moral judgments are general principles. Some are about specifics. Examples: John was wrong to tell you that. Hitler was an evil person. Other (non-moral) Normative Judgment and Principles Some judgments are normative, and say what ought or ought not to be done, but are not moral. Examples of these include prudential, legal and aesthetic judgments. They may be general or specific. Examples: You should quit smoking. That’s the wrong hat for that outfit. The Role of General Moral Principles in Moral Argument General moral principles can serve as the major...

Applied ethics is a discipline of philosophy that attempts to apply ‘theoretical’ ethics, such as utilitarianism, social contract theory, and deontology, to real world dilemmas. Topics falling within the discipline include medical ethics, legal ethics, environmental ethics, computer ethics, engineering ethics, media ethics, corporate social responsibility, or business ethics. Ma ny considerations of applied ethics also come into play in human rights discussions. Applied ethics seeks to engage formal ethics in attempts to solve actual dilemmas. In so doing, it illuminates the potential for disagreement over the way theories and principles should be applied. Strict, principle-based ethical approaches often result in solutions to specific problems that are not universally acceptable. Drawing on medical ethics for an example, a strict deontological approach would never permit the deception of a patient about their condition, whereas a utilitarian approach would involve con...