The Foundations of the Professions and of Professional Ethics: A Critical and Constructive Study

Horizons ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-115
Author(s):  
James J. Walter

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to study critically the positions of six authors on the foundations of the professions and of professional ethics. These positions are placed along a continuum which is created by correlating two variables that appear in each author's writings. The implied or explicit anthropology and metaethical theory of the authors are central concerns of the study. The issue whether the professional is governed by role-specific duties or by role-distinctive duties is analyzed in depth. In the end, the author cannot accept any of the six positions and so the final section of the article fashions a constructive proposal grounded in a social metaphysics of the human person.

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAËL BAUWENS

AbstractThe recent economic crisis has re-ignited the debate over the institution of fractional reserve banking (FRB) and its possible adverse economic effects. This paper brings a so far neglected aspect of the problem to the table, namely social ontology. After addressing the scope of social ontology in relation to social metaphysics, social science and FRB, a general ontological framework for money and banking is sketched and applied to the debate between Austrian opponents and proponents of FRB. It shows that the oppositions reflect metaphysical and ontological positions on the reality of powers and dispositions, namely that a realist position in the metaphysics of powers and dispositions tends to a critical position toward FRB, whereas a sceptical position on powers and dispositions leads to a favorable position toward FRB. A final section gives further examples of how these ontological presuppositions shape other arguments in the debate.


2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronny Swain

The paper describes the development of the 1998 revision of the Psychological Society of Ireland's Code of Professional Ethics. The Code incorporates the European Meta-Code of Ethics and an ethical decision-making procedure borrowed from the Canadian Psychological Association. An example using the procedure is presented. To aid decision making, a classification of different kinds of stakeholder (i.e., interested party) affected by ethical decisions is offered. The author contends (1) that psychologists should assert the right, which is an important aspect of professional autonomy, to make discretionary judgments, (2) that to be justified in doing so they need to educate themselves in sound and deliberative judgment, and (3) that the process is facilitated by a code such as the Irish one, which emphasizes ethical awareness and decision making. The need for awareness and judgment is underlined by the variability in the ethical codes of different organizations and different European states: in such a context, codes should be used as broad yardsticks, rather than precise templates.


1954 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 384-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred McKinney
Keyword(s):  

1980 ◽  
Vol 19 (03) ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
G. S. Lodwick ◽  
C. R. Wickizer ◽  
E. Dickhaus

The Missouri Automated Radiology System recently passed its tenth year of clinical operation at the University of Missouri. This article presents the views of a radiologist who has been instrumental in the conceptual development and administrative support of MARS for most of this period, an economist who evaluated MARS from 1972 to 1974 as part of her doctoral dissertation, and a computer scientist who has worked for two years in the development of a Standard MUMPS version of MARS. The first section provides a historical perspective. The second deals with economic considerations of the present MARS system, and suggests those improvements which offer the greatest economic benefits. The final section discusses the new approaches employed in the latest version of MARS, as well as areas for further application in the overall radiology and hospital environment. A complete bibliography on MARS is provided for further reading.


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