Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
5-1922
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph. D.
Department
Philosophy
Subject
Professional ethics
Abstract
Professional ethics does not differ in its essential nature from general ethics; both are concerned with problems of human conduct. The difference between the two is a difference of scope but not of nature. The scope of general ethics is as broad as the purposive acts of rational persons, while the scope of professional ethics is limited to the purposive acts of lawyers, physicians, teachers, clergymen, and other professional persons. The former includes all normal persons irrespective of their vocations; the latter includes only persons who are in professional life. Professional ethics takes the field of general ethics for granted; that is, it is assumed that professional men (using the term "mean" in the generic sense) should live according to the principles of ethics in general. The problems of professional ethics are those problems that are peculiar to the professions. For example, medical ethics deals with the problems of conduct that arise in the professional experiences of the physician. Legal ethics deals with the problems of conduct that arise in the professional life of the lawyer. Professional ethics may be thought of as general ethics applied to the life and work of professional men.
Recommended Citation
Dockery, Lewis William, "A study in professional ethics." (1922). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 361.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/361
