PROFESSIONAL ETHICS: CHARACTERISTICS, IMPORTANCE, CODE, EXAMPLES - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

The professional ethics is a set of codes or standards that apply to all professions. For this reason, it is common to hear about medical ethics, legal ethics, business ethics, bioethics, among others.

This ethic can also be defined as one that deals with values, norms or principles that are inseparable from the exercise of an occupation or profession. For example: legal ethics requires lawyers to respect the confidentiality of their clients, which means that they cannot disclose any confession that they make.

Professional ethics consists of a set of codes or norms that apply to all professions. Source: pixabay.com

Professional ethics should not be confused with personal ethics; the latter is shaped by personal experiences and by other factors such as family education, religion, and culture. In other words, personal ethics has many sources that organize and structure it.

Instead, professional ethics are made up of specialized rules that vary depending on the profession or work being performed.

In fact, it can happen that a person experiences contradictions between his professional and personal ethics; In these cases, the person must reflect on the circumstances and lean towards the ethics that is more favorable both for their conscience and for the people around them.

It is worth noting that the objective of professional ethics is to establish a code that helps people when facing problems or certain situations in their area. For this reason, it is affirmed that this ethic helps prevent errors and allows the exercise of the profession to flow properly.

Characteristics of professional ethics

- It is a branch or extension of morality

For philosophers and academics, professional ethics can be classified as a part of philosophy that is related to morals and the obligations of the human being.

In other words, professional ethics - like all ethics - arises from man's need to order and standardize human behavior in order to promote coexistence. In the case of professions, ethics seeks to favor the provision of a service.

For this reason it is stated that ethics are linked to philosophical and moral precepts. For example: medical ethics seeks that health professionals provide an optimal and safe service to their patients.

- Seek the moral rectitude of any profession

The purpose of this ethics is to lead any profession on the path of good according to the parameters or social norms of each culture; for this reason it is affirmed that he seeks moral rectitude. It should be noted that moral rectitude refers to a way of living or acting in a conscious and coherent way, which facilitates coexistence with others and with oneself.

Moral rectitude within the professional field implies the fulfillment of a series of values ​​or duties such as responsibility, punctuality, respect, among others. These elements are universal values, but each profession may require particular duties.

For example: graphic designers have the duty to deliver their designs in the time established with the client, while doctors must comply with the use of gowns, gloves and masks at the time of performing an operation.

Doctors must comply with the use of gowns, gloves, and masks when performing an operation. Source: pixabay.com

As can be seen in the example, each profession has its own regulations. However, they all share some universal values ​​such as tolerance, commitment, among others.

- Reflects the goals and values ​​of each profession

Professional ethics is a reflection of the objectives and principles of each profession. This means that this ethic is used to publicize the virtues that professionals exercise in their areas.

For example: one of the virtues expected of doctors is that they comply with hygiene standards, while a goal of their profession is to help other people.

On the other hand, one of his virtues is expected to be creativity; you are also expected to have an appropriate and consistent use of language. All these elements are located within the framework of professional ethics regulations and represent the essence of any profession.

Importance of professional ethics

Professional ethics is important for several reasons: first, because it allows any profession to be organized based on a series of rules. These standards favor productivity and promote excellence among professionals.

If the exercise of a profession were disorderly or did not follow any law, it would not be possible for that professional to contribute to social development and their own growth.

In addition, through professional ethics, teamwork is encouraged and bonds are built between colleagues. This occurs because adherence to professional standards increases positive interactions between people. For example: if a colleague is punctual and responsible, others will esteem her for her level of commitment to the profession she exercises.

Through professional ethics, teamwork is encouraged and bonds are built between colleagues. Source: pixabay.com

Code of professional ethics

When speaking of the professional code of ethics, reference is made to the system that encompasses the obligations or responsibilities of each profession. In other words, these codes are a set of laws that regulate the actions of a profession according to its needs.

The professional ethics code of a public accountant can be taken as an example; it lists a list of virtues and duties such as: integrity, independence, objectivity, competence and professional care, confidentiality, dissemination and collaboration.

Commitment and responsibility are expected from a public accountant. Source: pixabay.com

Examples

- When a person does not feel well emotionally and still performs his work duties successfully, he is complying with the ethics required by his profession.

- At the time of exercising their profession, doctors take an oath where they affirm that they will comply with the principle of beneficence; This means that they have an obligation to act for the benefit of other people, so they must suppress prejudices and illegitimate interests (that is, they distance themselves from the medical objective).

- Lawyers are complying with professional ethics when they respect the confidentiality agreement between themselves and their clients. They are also being ethical when they defend the rights of society and individuals according to the laws of their nation.

At times, lawyers may experience contradictions between their personal and professional ethics; This occurs when they have to defend a client with whom they do not agree or must keep the confession of a client that he is doing something illegal.

The same goes for the ethics of some companies: sometimes they are taking actions that affect the environment, however, their ethics override environmental interests.

- Journalists apply professional ethics when they comply with the following values: fairness, responsibility and impartiality; The latter refers to the fact that all events have two points of view, so journalists have the duty to analyze both circumstances from an objective perspective.

- In general, all professions are governed by the principle of non-maleficence, which means that the exercise of any profession cannot harm or harm another human being. Therefore, a doctor, journalist, writer, teacher, biologist or any other professional is being ethical when their actions contribute to social well-being and collective development.

References

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