We explain what professional ethics is and what its characteristics and principles are. In addition, we explain the types of professional ethics and examples.
All professional codes of ethics share the objective of elevating human quality.
What is professional ethics?
Professional ethics is a philosophical discipline that reflects on the expected behavior for a specialist in the exercise of their profession, in all professional sectors.
Its aim is to establish professional codes to resolve real moral problems and to contribute to establishing standards of conduct.
Moral norms are specific to each professional sector, because different problems arise in each specialty. However, all codes of professional ethics They share the objective of raising human quality for the benefit of society.
Characteristics of professional ethics
Among the main characteristics of professional ethics, the following stand out:
- Reflect on the behavior expected of a professional.
- It helps ensure that the performance of professionals benefits society.
- Proposes maximum codes that motivate improvement in professional activity.
- It is a type of applied ethics.
- It is governed by rational thinking and theories.
Principles of professional ethics
Among the most prominent principles or values of professional ethics are the following:
- I respectIt is the principle that establishes accepting and valuing others as they are, beyond their differences. It is one of the essential principles of social ethics.
- Charity. It is the principle that establishes acting for the benefit of others, above one’s own interests. It is one of the essential principles of bioethics.
- Honesty. It is the principle that establishes acting in a transparent, reasonable and fair manner, and that allows trust to be established in all human relationships. It is one of the essential principles of accounting ethics.
- Confidentiality. It is the principle that establishes the right to privacy and the protection of information that does not have the person’s consent to be disclosed. It is one of the essential principles in legal ethics.
- Equity. It is the principle that establishes recognizing and covering different needs so that people who are in a disadvantaged situation achieve equal opportunities. It is one of the essential principles of educational ethics.
- Commitment. It is the principle that establishes compliance with an acquired obligation and is related to responsibility and integrity. It is one of the essential principles of business ethics.
Types of professional ethics
Among the main types of professional ethics, the following stand out:
- Medical ethics. Reflect on the link between those responsible for health and patients.
- Legal ethics. Reflects on the relationship between legal professionals and citizens, with the aim of ensuring trust and confidentiality between the parties.
- Journalistic ethics. Reflect on the ways in which journalists and the media express and report, and on what values or rules they base their opinions on.
- Engineering ethics. Reflect on the obligations that engineers have throughout the process required for a construction project, in order to guarantee safe professional practice for both employees and the people who will later use the built space.
- Educational ethics. Reflects on educational systems, their representatives, students and the impact on society in general.
- Business ethics. Reflects on companies and their relationships with others, with their employees, with consumers and with the environment.
- Ethics of biological research (or bioethics). Reflect on the problems that arise from innovations in science and that involve law and health, as in the case of organ transplants or fertilization. in vitro.
- Ethics of technology. Reflect on the use of technology and the role it plays in human life, both on its benefits (such as making tasks easier) and the adverse effects that can be caused by the excessive consumption of technological equipment and systems.
- Environmental ethics. Reflect on how human beings relate to the natural environment and what impact it causes. It helps people make more rational and ethical decisions in which the well-being of the environment is prioritized over their personal interests.
- Ethics in religion. It resorts to the teachings of God, according to different religions, to promulgate his doctrine and impose certain norms and codes.
Examples of professional ethics
Among the most common examples of professional ethics are the following:
- Commitment to the principle of beneficence. A dermatologist who suspects a patient’s skin disease must perform a biopsy to obtain an accurate diagnosis and determine an appropriate treatment for the type of skin disease.
- Impartiality of information as a public service. When covering a news story, the journalist must maintain objectivity so as not to manipulate the opinion of the recipient of the news.
- Responsibility for ensuring the safety of the work. An engineer who is in charge of the structural design of a building has the obligation to supervise the development of the work to corroborate that the specifications of the plan are respected, so that building safety is preserved.
- Corporate social responsibility. A company has the obligation to control and moderate the impact that its activity may have on society. For example, a textile factory must operate under conditions suitable for the performance of its employees, with decent working hours and salaries that comply with the provisions of the law.
- Respect for other sentient beings. A company that performs tolerance testing on cosmetic products must implement non-animal testing methods, e.g. in vitrocomputer simulation and experimentation on people who volunteer.
- Protection of personal data and transparency in its managementA company that collects personal data from users who register through its website has the obligation to guarantee the protection of such data or, failing that, to inform that it may be shared with third parties.
Importance of professional ethics
Professional ethics is essential since contributes to raising human quality in the work environment and this factor, in turn, has an impact at a social level.
Professional ethics helps to understand that a profession represents much more than individual interestssuch as economic and status-related ones. The profession represents a social practice that acquires meaning in the ethical value that it provides to society.
The responsibility of the professional is conditioned by his values and his duty to do good. In addition, you must follow deontological norms and rules that regulate the particular activity.
Difference between professional ethics and professional deontology
Professional ethics is part of applied ethics and makes use of ethical principles and theories to reflect on issues in professional life. Professional deontology, on the other hand, is part of normative ethics and is the object of study of professional ethics.
Professional ethics establishes a set of moral standards and organizes them into codes of ethics: documents that set out the requirements and obligations of conduct for each professional group.
For example, medical or journalism professionals must respect the criteria detailed in their corresponding code of professional ethics, which is often even updated.
Etymology of the term deontology. The word deontology comes from the Greek term deon, which means “what is due” and lodge which means “knowledge” or “study.” That is, it refers to the study of duty.
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References
- Vigo, RL (2014). Professional ethics: specificity, importance and relevance. Prudentia Iuris, 78. https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/
- Rosales, G.I. (2020). Professional ethics from the sociological and philosophical perspective , Ibero-American Journal of Social and Humanistic Sciences (RICSH), scientific articles. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/
- Vidal, MD (2003). Information on codes of ethics and guidelines on internet ethics. Bioethics and Health Sciences Magazine. https://www.bioeticacs.org/
- Rosales, GI (2007). Ethics and professional values. Reunion. Analysis of university problems. https://www.redalyc.org/
- UNODC, education for justice, university modules series (2019). Professional ethics, module 14. https://www.unodc.org/