Applied and Professional Ethics

Create a blog post where you highlight key points from the article on Applied and Professional Ethics by Collste (2012) and discuss what you find relevant or applicable to your profession.

Key points & how they are relevant or applicable to my profession:

• Applied ethics is the art or science of reflecting on moral dilemmas and moral problems in different social contexts. (p.18) In education we are often faced with moral dilemmas and it is important that we are aware of the ethics involved when we make decisions, especially in leadership roles as we may need to justify our decisions.  

• Beauchamp and Childress proposed the following four principles as a basis for moral decision making in medicine: the principle of non-maleficience, the principle of beneficence, the principle of respect for autonomy and the principle of justice (p.20) These four principles can be used in making educational decisions too.

• Ethical inquiry is a way to increase our knowledge of, or at least our insights into, ethical issues. (p.23) In education where we are called to make ethical decisions it is important to have knowledge of, and increase our insight into ethical issues. This is more important the greater your leadership role.

• Reflective equilibrium (RE) - the point is to identify and relate different relevant aspects of a case (p.24) It is important when making ethical decisions to reach reflective equilibrium, a point where you are able to identify the different aspects of the decision that is being made. 

• Professional ethics is based on the practice of a profession, while applied ethics is primarily an academic endeavour. (p.27) Therefore, in our everyday situations is it professional ethics we will be using when making decisions.

• Professional virtues are those virtues that are necessary to realising the standards and goods of a profession. The good or virtuous professional is the one who has the capacity and the desire to live up to the standards to make the right decision in problematic moral situations. This capacity is acquired through reflective practice.(p.31) A great leader needs to have professional virtues, this better enables them to lead from an ethical stand point. Ensuring decisions are made for the best of all involved.

References

Collste, G. (2012). Applied and professional ethics. KEMANUSIAAN, 19(1), 17-33. Retrieved from http://web.usm.my/kajh/vol19_1_2012/KAJH19_1_2012_2.pdf