Ethical code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:06, 10 June 2004

Revision as of 03:10, 13 July 2004

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'''Ethical code'''s are specialized and specific codes of [[ethics]].

Such codes exist in most [[profession]]s to guide interactions between specialists with advanced knowledge, e.g. [[doctorphysician|doctors]]s, [[lawyer]]s, [[engineer]]s, [[stonemason]]s, and the general public. They are often not part of any more general theory of [[ethics]] but accepted as pragmatic necessities.

As the public is in general incapable of distinguishing good from bad decisions, ethical codes are normally part of a profession's own self-regulation. Public guidance typically is confined to ensuring that there is such an internally consistent code, and imposing stricter rules if a profession, e.g. [[accounting]], is deficient in the extreme.