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Introduction to Professional Ethics
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PHLOSOPHY = Greek for love of wisdom
=philia meaning love or friendship
Sophia meaning wisdom
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Philosophy components Epistemology
ie the study of knowledge
Metaphysics
The study of nature of reality
Axiology (ethics)
The study of morality
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ETHICS Ethos (a Greek word)
Habit, custom, love of wisdom
Normative ethics Rational reasoning
Theoretical reasoning
Standards in regards Right wrong
Good bad
In relation to conduct, behavior, character
One ought to be acceptable by an individual or groups.
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Included within these concepts, themeanings
Kantian
Utilitarian
Ethics
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Whereby the priority refers to whatought, the way an individual ought to
think and behave.
The main objective is to form a validnorm on the conduct and also
emplacing valve on behavioral conduct.
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Social ethicsA doctrine related to what is (accepted)
as right/as wrong
What is good
What is bad
Upon the behavioral conduct these
characteristics, can be observed in religiousethics.
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Ethics From the Greek word ethos, meaning
character
Focus on what is right or wrong in humanbehavior and conduct
Question focusing on: What constitutes any person or action being good,
bad, right or wrong? How and what part does self interest or interests
of other people play in the making of moraldecisions and judgment ?
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Question arise then,
How do we define right or wrong?Good or bad action?
What are the standards by which suchdecisions can be made?
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What is considered good?
Is good associated with happiness?
Pleasurable? Bad then is associated with
unhappiness and pain?
How do we determine what ishappiness, pleasure, pain,unhappiness?
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Society ? Culture? Individual?Independence?
What about human experience? Humanrelationships? .. In the context ofwhat is good, what is right.
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Knowledge we can utilize it for good.
What about bad? .actions based on knowledge.
Similarly power ..
How do we decide actions that willbring good (for some, some one) butpain for others?
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EPISTEMOLOGY Question such as :
What is knowledge?
What are the truth and falsity?
How, where do they apply?
What is required for an individual to
actually know something? What is the nature of perception?
What are logic and logical reasoning?
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EPISTEMOLOGY How can we attain them?
What is the difference betweenknowledge and belief?
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METAPHYSICS Question such as :
What exists in reality?
What is the nature of what exist? Is there really a cause and effect in reality?
How does it work if it exist?
What is the nature of human beings?
What is the nature of the physical world?
Is there a mental or spiritual world?
Is there freedom in reality or is it predetermined?
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As normative science, ethics involvesthe focus on the study of norms;
criteria related with decision making(choice) done by man which can bedifferentiate between good and wrong.
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ETHICS
Ethics as philosophyRelativismAbsolutismMotivation in morals
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Introduction to Ethics
The unexamined life is not worth living(Socrates).
What is right?
What is wrong?
Hamlet wonders, to be or not to bebut according to Levine (1986), that isnot the question.
The question is, How to be.
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ETHICS
Are all standards of what is right and wrong, whatconstitutes a good personal life or a good societymerely relative to the individual person or to a
particular social group expressing nothing more thanhabit or prejudice and serving individual or groupinterests and needs? These are the questions of thebranch of philosophy called ethics. Ethics asks ifthere is a highest good for human beings, an
absolute good? What is the meaning of right andwrong in human action? What are our obligations?And why should we be moral? (Lavine, 1984, p.3 inFreeman, 2000, p. 29).
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ETHICS
Ethics as Philosophy
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RELATIVISM
In addressing relativism, the distinctionbetween ethical relativism and cultural
relativism is of paramount importance. Ethical relativism is a highly
controversial philosophical theory, while
cultural relativism is an acceptedsociological description of someimportant differences between cultures.
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Ethical relativism concerns itself with thequestion, What actions are morally right?.
Cultural relativism concern itself with thequestion, What actions do different culturesbelieve to be morally right?
Because differing cultures have diverse moral
beliefs, there is no way to decide whether anaction is morally right or morally wrong otherthan by asking the people of that particularculture to judge.
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Ethical relativism may be seen as the viewthat if the members of certain culture believe
that a certain action is morally right, then it ismorally right to perform that act in thatculture.
Likewise, if the members of a different
culture view the same act as morally wrong,then in that culture to perform that act wouldbe morally wrong.
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With that basic difference noted, thelarger questions involving relativism can
be addressed. Who are you to judge someone elses
behavior?
What gives you the right to impose yourvalues on others?
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Some people doubt that the moral judgmentsof others can be valid.
They reject the idea that there are validuniversal moral principals applicable toeveryone.
Ethical relativism questions whether what isright for one person or culture or society isany indication that is right for another.
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Relativism states that morality isrelative to something else.
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It denies that there are any absolutemoral standards and states that
different moral standards exist fordifferent cultures and societies.
Relativism is one of the largest areas of
controversy in the study of ethics.
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Holmes (1993) distinguishes three theses relevant torelativism.
1. Moral beliefs and practices vary from culture to culture.2. Morality depends on:
a. human nature (e.g., reason, motivation, emotions, andcapacity for pleasure and pain);b. The human condition (the natural order places constraintson human life such as death);c. specific social and cultural circumstances, or somecombination of all three of the above.
3. What is right and wrong may vary from person to person andculture to culture.
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Holmes (1993) states that thesis 1simply affirm cultural diversity.
Variations in moral beliefs andpractices, some of which might bepronounced, are possible but not
required in different cultures.
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Thesis 2, the dependency thesis, statesthat morality is dependent on or
conditioned by human nature and/orthe world people live in.
This view states that moralitys function
is to guide human conduct, and that ithas evolved over time in response tohuman needs.
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Thesis 3 is ethical relativism. It contains boththese 1 and 2 and goes beyond them.
Ethical relativists believe in right and wrong;however, they contend that what is right forone person or culture has the possibility ofbeing wrong for another.
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Relativism allows for the possibility ofdiffering moral judgments about the
same behavior being (relatively) correctat the same time.
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ABSOLUTISM
Absolute moral standards are bothuniversal and objective.
They are universal in that the apply toeveryone at all times and also apply toall situations equally.
Consistency without contradiction is akey factor in this universal application.
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Absolute moral standards are objectivein that they do not depend on a
persons culture beliefs, thoughts,feelings or customs.
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Introduction to ProfessionalEthics
Professional ethics is about beingconfident one has the correct
combination of attributes to alleviatehuman distress a promised.
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Specifically, ethics encompasses four dimensions:
1. Having sufficient knowledge, skill, and judgment touse efficacious interventions.
2. Respecting the human dignity and freedom of theclient.
3. Using the power inherent in the counselors roleresponsibly.
4. Acting in ways that promote public confidence inthe profession of counseling. (Welfel, 2002).
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THE DEVELOPMENT OFCODES OF ETHICS
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Ethical standards written by professionalassociations represent a consensus of
members beliefs and concerns about ethicalbehavior.
Kitchener (1984), addressing the issues ofethical principles in counseling, noted that
when our ordinary moral judgment fails us,as professionals we must move to a moresystematic and evaluative level in our ethicalthinking.
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Tennyson and Strom (1986) suggest twoconditions are necessary in the moralreasoning of counselors who exerciseresponsibleness.
One is a commitment to rational thinking andthe other an orientation to moral principles.
They suggest professional ethical standardscan be viewed as an attempt at the formationof ethical sense (responsibleness).
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The codes of ethics of professionalorganizations are not static; rather, there areliving documents that reflect movement and
growth within the profession. The American Counseling Association (ACA)
code of ethics was adopted in 1961 and hasalso undergone several minor as well asmajor revisions (i.e., 1974, 1981, 1988,1995). Most codes of ethics of professionalorganizations undergo revisions as theprofession grows.
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THANK YOU
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