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Virtue Ethics and Professional Roles

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Virtue Ethics and Professional Roles
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Justin Oakley
By (author) Dean Cocking
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:204
Dimensions(mm): Height 258,Width 152
Category/GenreEthics and moral philosophy
Social and political philosophy
ISBN/Barcode 9780521027298
ClassificationsDewey:174
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations Worked examples or Exercises

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 2 November 2006
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Professionals, it is said, have no use for simple lists of virtues and vices. The complexities and constraints of professional roles create peculiar moral demands on the people who occupy them, and traits that are vices in ordinary life are praised as virtues in the context of professional roles. Should this disturb us, or is it naive to presume that things should be otherwise? Taking medical and legal practice as key examples, Justin Oakley and Dean Cocking develop a rigorous articulation and defence of virtue ethics, contrasting it with other types of character-based ethical theories and showing that it offers a promising new approach to the ethics of professional roles. They provide insights into the central notions of professional detachment, professional integrity, and moral character in professional life, and demonstrate how a virtue-based approach can help us better understand what ethical professional-client relationships would be like.

Author Biography

Dean Cocking is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia. He has published a number of articles in journals including Ethics and The Journal of Philosophy. Justin Oakley is Director of the Monash University Centre for Human Bioethics. His publications include Morality and the Emotions (1992) and a number of journal articles.

Reviews

'The great achievement of this book is that it renders virtue ethics plausible ... It certainly offers a new and constructive way of viewing the meaning and the purpose, the roles and the goods of professional life.' Heythrop Journal ' ... there have been relatively few theoretical contributions of this caliber to the literature on virtues and the professions, this book will be a welcome addition to the field.' Jennifer Welchman, Philosophy in Review 'This excellent volume has something for everyone ... It is a thought-provoking read ...offers a significant contribution to the ethics literature' Derek Sellman, Nursing Philosophy