The concept of ethics and types of professional ethics. Ethics, its subject, types, structure

1. Terminology (basic concepts) The difficulties of studying the phenomenon of mass communication are associated primarily with its truly comprehensive nature, penetration into almost all pores of modern society, the role and influence, sometimes implicit, hidden, which

3. Standards of library ethics 3.1. Free access to information At the beginning of the century, librarians were concerned with the issue of collecting and systematizing knowledge that was scattered throughout the world. Many of them argued that this knowledge, constantly increasing and widely disseminated,

1.1. Basic concepts First of all, let us define the semantic component of the concepts “sex” and “gender” and terms directly related to them. In English-language literature, the concepts of “gender” and “sex” are defined by one word “sex”. In Russian, the word "gender" means

Each type of human professional activity corresponds to certain types of professional ethics with their own specific characteristics. Ethics considers the moral qualities of a person without regard to mental mechanisms,

stimulating the emergence of these qualities. The study of ethics shows the diversity and versatility of professional moral relations and moral standards.

Professional moral standards are rules, patterns, and procedures for internal regulation of the individual based on ethical ideals.

Medical ethics is set out in the “Ethical Code of the Russian Doctor”, adopted in 1994 by the Association of Russian Doctors. Earlier, in 1971, the oath of the doctor of the Soviet Union was created. The idea of ​​a high moral character and example of ethical behavior of a doctor is associated with the name of Hippocrates. Traditional medical ethics resolves the issue of personal contact and personal qualities of the relationship between the doctor and the patient, as well as the doctor’s guarantees not to harm a specific individual. Biomedical ethics (bioethics) is a specific form of modern professional ethics of a doctor; it is a system of knowledge about the permissible limits of manipulating the life and death of a person. Manipulation must be regulated morally. Bioethics is a form of protection of human biological life. The main problem of bioethics: suicide, euthanasia, determination of death, transplantology, experimentation on animals and

person, the relationship between doctor and patient, attitude towards mentally disabled people, hospice organization, childbirth (genetic engineering, artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, abortion, contraception).

The goal of bioethics is to develop appropriate regulations for modern biomedical activities.

In 1998, under the Moscow Patriarchate, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, the Council on Biomedical Ethics was created. It included famous theologians, clergy, doctors, scientists, and lawyers.

Professional morality in journalism began to take shape along with journalistic activity. However, the process of its formation lasted for centuries and reached certainty only with the transformation of the journalistic profession into a mass profession. It ended only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when the first codes were created and the professional and moral consciousness of the journalistic community acquired a documented form of existence.

A journalist, mastering the postulates of professional morality during his professional development, enters into professional and moral relationships with colleagues, which, unlike moral ones as such, presuppose the possibility of institutionally organized and direct intervention of the corporation in his behavior. However, this intervention differs significantly from administrative influence, since its goal is not coercion, but motivation.

The professional ethics of a journalist, like other types of professional ethics, began to take shape directly in their work activities. It manifested itself in the course of codifying those professional and moral ideas that spontaneously developed within the framework of the method of journalistic activity and were recorded one way or another

professional consciousness of the journalistic community. The appearance of the first codes meant the completion of a long process of formation of professional journalistic morality and at the same time opened a new stage in its development. This new stage was based on targeted self-knowledge of journalistic activity and its practical application

results.

A special manifestation of professional ethics is economic ethics (“business ethics”, “business ethics”). Economic ethics is an ancient science. It began with Aristotle

in the works “Ethics”, “Nicomachean Ethics”, “Politics”. Aristotle does not separate economics from economic ethics. He advises his son Nicomachus to engage only in the production of goods. Its principles were developed in the ideas and concepts of Catholic and Protestant theologians, who for a long time pondered intensely on the problems of business ethics.

One of the first ethical-economic concepts was that of Henry Ford, one of the founders of the US automobile industry. He believed that happiness and prosperity

are obtained only by honest work and that this is ethical common sense, the essence of Ford's economic ethics lies in the idea that the product produced is not just an realized “business theory”, but “something more” - a theory whose purpose is to create a source of joy from the world of things . Force and machine, money and property are useful only insofar as

because they promote freedom in life. These economic principles of G. Ford are of practical importance even today.

Management ethics is a science that examines the actions and behavior of a person acting in the field of management, and the functioning of an organization as a “total manager” in relation to its internal and external environment in the aspect in which the actions of the manager and the organization relate to universal ethical requirements.

Economic ethics is a set of norms of behavior for an entrepreneur, the requirements imposed by a cultural society on his style of work, the nature of communication between business participants, and their social appearance.

Economic ethics includes business etiquette, which is formed under the influence of traditions and certain prevailing historical conditions of a particular country.

The main tenets of the entrepreneur's code of ethics are the following:

ü he is convinced of the usefulness of his work not only for himself, but also for others, for society as a whole;

ü proceeds from the fact that the people around him want and know how to work;

ü believes in business and regards it as attractive creativity;

ü recognizes the need for competition, but also understands the need for cooperation;

ü respects any property, social movements, respects professionalism and

ü competence, laws;

ü values ​​education, science and technology.

These basic principles of ethics for a business person can be specified in relation to various areas of his professional activity. For Russia, problems of economic ethics are becoming of great importance. This is explained by the rapid

the formation of market relations in our country.

Currently, the basic principles and rules of business conduct are formulated in ethical codes. These may be standards by which individual firms live (corporate codes), or rules governing relationships within an entire industry (professional codes).

The relationship and difference between the concepts of “ethics” and “etiquette”

The object of study of ethics is morality. It regulates human consciousness and behavior in all spheres of life - in work, everyday life, politics, relationships in the family, team, in international relations, in relationships with nature. Morality is involved in the formation of human personality and its self-awareness. “Ethics,” according to A. Schweitzer, “is unlimited responsibility for everything that lives.”

All areas of business ethics without exception are based on fundamental ethical standards.

Modern business ethics, according to many scientists, should be based on three most important principles:

ü the creation of material assets in all their diversity of forms is considered as an initially important process;

ü profit and other income are considered as a result of achieving various socially significant goals;

ü priority in resolving problems arising in the business world should be given to the interests of interpersonal relationships, and not to the production of products.

Compliance with business ethics is one of the main criteria for assessing the professionalism of both an individual employee and the organization as a whole.

Business ethics is based on general rules of behavior developed by people in the process of joint life activities.

Etiquette is an established procedure for behavior somewhere. These are the norms of relationships between people of different legal, social and intellectual status. This is part of the moral culture associated with the category of beauty. Etiquette, as it were, connects the inner world of a person with his external manifestation

Etiquette regulates what is permissible and acceptable in a given society or group of people and what is not.

It is associated with the concepts of politeness, culture, and intelligence.

The basis of etiquette is respect for people. It originated as a court ceremony during the time of the French king Louis XIV (1638 - 1715). His reign is the apogee of French absolutism*. It is to Louis XIV that we owe the name “Etiquette”.

At palace receptions with Louis XIV, guests were given cards with written rules of conduct. The word “Etiquette” comes from the name “card” - label.

Originating in the 17th century. in the environment of Versailles, it began to spread throughout the world, penetrating all languages ​​without translation or special commentary.

Etiquette regulates what is permissible and acceptable in a given society or group of people and what is not. Unlike moral norms, it has the character of an unwritten agreement between people.

Both etiquette and ethics are different codes of conduct. A business person should think about them.

For example, a man protects a woman from bullies. He fights with them, calls them obscene names. From an etiquette point of view, it is not good to use swear words, but in this case it is not unethical. In this case, it is a violation of etiquette, but not ethics.

The man showed determination, courage, strength, that is, positive qualities, and protected the woman from hooligans.

Both ethics and etiquette state that government property cannot be used for other purposes.

When an employee, in a conversation with another, criticizes the action of an absent employee, he naturally violates etiquette, but when a company psychologist complains about an employee (patient) to another, this is a violation of ethics.

Ethics laws look at the problem from a broader perspective and do not deal with such trifles as being offended because someone did not say “Thank you” or “Please” or did not send a congratulations to a colleague, etc.

Every etiquette issue, from bragging to gift exchange, must be addressed in light of the ethical standards of a given organization, a given society. For example, it is not customary to give a watch either in the East or in the West. In Japan, the number four is unlucky, so it is indecent for the Japanese to give a set consisting of four items, a service for four people, etc.

Ignorance of etiquette, awkwardness, and lack of self-confidence interfere with the development of a conversation in the right direction, limit initiative and constrain a person’s behavior in any environment.

Aware of the benefits this can bring in the future, Japanese companies annually train their staff in good manners, rules and forms of communication, and provide consultations on these issues to their employees. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on etiquette training. They rightly believe that it is better to spend money on these purposes today than to lose potential customers and markets for their products tomorrow. Due to the inability of their employees to dress correctly, to behave correctly with each other, with clients, with managers, the inability to write a letter correctly, to communicate politely and tactfully on the phone, to select and place personnel correctly, sometimes careers collapse. Hard to say,

how much money is lost annually, how many injuries are caused due to improper behavior or

bad manners.

English writer and moralist of the 19th century. J. Lebbock correctly noted about this: “... for success in life, the ability to communicate with people is much more important than having talent.”

The rules of business etiquette help bring together the economic and financial interests of business people and contribute to the establishment of business relations with foreign partners.

Knowledge of business etiquette is the basis of entrepreneurial success.

According to D. Carnegie: “The success of a person in his financial affairs depends fifteen percent on his professional knowledge and eighty-five percent on his ability to communicate with people.”

Both ethics and etiquette show a person how he should behave. Ethics and etiquette go hand in hand. It is important to understand that in order to succeed, you must correctly navigate issues of ethics and good manners, and learn the specifics of correct behavior in certain situations. Then it will be possible to solve problems related to professional training.

Any professional is forced to constantly make decisions and take responsibility for their actions. The higher the position, the greater the responsibility falls on the person making the decision, since this decision affects more people. When performing an action, we are guided by a variety of considerations: professional, economic, legal, psychological, etc. Behind all these considerations, one can easily forget the main meaning of any action, namely the ethical one. Because everything is done, ultimately, for man, for his good, and this is nothing more than an ethical consideration. Unfortunately, people often forget about this ultimate goal or replace true goals with means. The goal of an ethics course is to clarify the moral meaning of an act and to formulate ethical criteria for the correctness of an action.

Ethics as a separate philosophical discipline goes back to Aristotle. It was Aristotle who carried out the first division of sciences and identified ethics as “practical philosophy” in contrast to physics, metaphysics, and logic.

In modern Russian we use words such as ethics, morality, morality. Often these words act as synonyms. This is not accidental and is completely justified, since etymologically these words have a really similar meaning: ethics is a Greek word meaning habitat, custom, character, disposition; morality is the Latin translation of the Greek word ethics, and morality is a Russian word, again related to the same field.

There are three main aspects to our moral experience. Firstly, these are the norms and rules of behavior accepted in society, which we learn in the process of living in society and in accordance with which we act. Secondly, these are the moral qualities of a person’s character (we describe people, say that they are good or evil, honest or deceitful, responsible or “without a king in their head,” etc.). Thirdly, these are values, ideals, ideas about a good life, about what to strive for and what to focus on. All these aspects of moral experience are closely intertwined and interconnected in people’s minds and are manifested in behavior, reasoning about society, a person, and actions.

Despite the synonymous meaning of the words “ethics”, “morality” and “morality”, these concepts can be used with different meanings. In the philosophical understanding, ethics is a philosophical discipline (“practical philosophy”), the subject of study of which is morality and ethics. I. Kant and G. W. Hegel also differentiated the meanings of the latter concepts. Thus, morality is the sphere of individual principles, while morality is the sphere of social mores. This distinction is actively used in modern philosophical science. Thus, ethics can be defined as systematic understanding of moral experience in order to establish principles of correct behavior, develop values, meanings in life to strive for, and determine character traits that are useful for people to develop in themselves.

Over the course of two and a half decades of its existence, ethics, justifying its purpose as “practical philosophy,” has developed principles and norms, a conceptual apparatus for analyzing the moral aspects of social and psychological phenomena. At the same time, until the 20th century. Researchers do not distinguish theoretical and applied levels in ethics. Despite the fact that Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, D. Hume, J. S. Mill, I. Kant discussed issues related to suicide, attitudes towards death, attitudes towards women and children, the behavior of statesmen, just and unjust wars, violence, the moral status of the embryo, the problem of euthanasia, ethical knowledge was still very abstract, within it it was impossible to distinguish the empirical level as relatively independent.

In the 20th century In ethics, different levels of research have been distinguished: descriptive ethics, normative ethics, metaethics. These areas of ethical knowledge constituted general ethics. Descriptive ethics appeared under the influence of the active development of sociology and psychology. The main subject of descriptive ethics was the description of the real mores of individual groups of the population, peoples, cultures, and societies; comparison, comparison of different moral systems, principles and values.

Normative ethics should be understood as a direct heir to the history of ethical thought, the subject of which is the justification of the basic moral principles and values ​​of the moral system. Normative ethics systematizes various moral norms, rules, and values ​​in order to build a hierarchy of moral norms. It identifies the fundamental principles from which moral norms can be derived, and seeks in various ways to substantiate the universality and imperativeness of the original basic principles and values ​​of morality. The theoretical level of ethics is formed on the basis of normative ethics.

Subject metaethicists became the language of morality. She subjected all basic ethical concepts to strict logical analysis: good, duty, ideal, virtue, vice, obligation; analyzed the linguistic use of the concepts of ethics.

In metaethics there has been an extreme removal of ethics from its original function of practical philosophy. As a response to this removal, there was a turn to the real problems of society. In the 70–80s. XX century the so-called special ethics, which most ethicists prefer to call applied.

Among the reasons for the emergence of special ethics can be noted: the growth of the volume of human knowledge and technological capabilities of mankind; the latest scientific discoveries (mainly in biology, genetics, medicine); revolutionary transformations in ways of acquiring information (computers, the Internet); alarming scale of environmental pollution; dramatic problems in the distribution of the world's food and raw material resources; the continued growth of the world's population; secularization of society; the emergence of new types of activities and professions; the lag of the legislative framework of society from the problems of our time.

Bioethics, environmental ethics, business ethics, political ethics, ethics of science, engineering ethics, etc. have become a response to the challenges of our time. All these are examples of applied special ethics.

In the literature you can find different definitions of applied ethics:

1) a modern variety of practical philosophy existing since ancient times, the subject field of which is open moral problems;

2) modern practical ethics, but, unlike professional ethics, this is a form of regulation of activity not from the inside, but from the outside;

3) application of general ethical concepts to particular situations;

4) a new stage in the development of ethics, characterized by the fact that the theory of morality directly merges with the moral practice of society.

In the author’s opinion, all these definitions are correct and point to different areas of the moral experience of modern man. In them we see the answer to the question of the relationship between general, applied and professional ethics.

The following trends in the development of modern ethics can be identified. In applied ethics, general theories of normative ethics are “applied” to the problems of our time, turning into working tests, criteria for assessing problems. Professional ethics, traditionally acting as a sphere of regulation with the help of an ethical code of professional activity within the profession, is being transformed into a sphere of public interest, as the influence of the profession on society is increasing. The requirements that are imposed on the profession as a whole and on members of the professional community from the outside, from society, are constantly changing depending on the changes taking place in society. It is this side of the relationship between profession and society that applied ethics deals with.

To summarize, we can define the course of ethics of professional communities as a professional-applied one, the purpose of which is to clarify moral problems both from within the profession and from the outside - from the position of society.

Related information.

The following types of ethics are distinguished: professional, corporate and applied. Let's look at each type in more detail:

• 1. Professional ethics refers to practices designed to solve moral problems that arise in a particular profession. This type of ethics deals with the following problems:
  • the first is associated with the need to specify universal moral norms in relation to the conditions of professional activity;
  • it considers the requirements that exist within the profession and bind their bearers with special, business relationships;
  • she discusses the correspondence between the values ​​of the profession and the interests of society itself, and from this perspective she addresses the problems of the relationship between social responsibility and professional duty.
  • Professional ethics has the following characteristics:
  • it is expressed in the form of demands addressed to representatives of a given profession. From this follows its normative image, enshrined in the form of beautifully formulated codes and declarations. As a rule, they are small documents containing a call to live up to the high calling of the profession;
  • documents on professional ethics are filled with the conviction that the values ​​professed by it are completely obvious and follow from a simple analysis of the activities of the most prominent representatives of this type of activity;
  • The professional community itself is considered the authority of ethics, and the most respected representatives who will be given such high trust can speak on its behalf. From this context, it becomes clear that both the investigation and the sanctions are also a matter for the community itself. His trial and sentence are a decision of a panel of professionals against those who misunderstood their high destiny, used their status to harm the community and thereby excluded themselves from it.

Professional ethics seeks to solve the following problems: not to lose the status of the profession, to prove social significance, to respond to the challenges of rapidly changing conditions, to strengthen its own cohesion, to develop common standards for joint activities and to protect itself from the claims of other areas of professional competence.

This type of ethical theory and practice has some disadvantages. At first glance, one can note its closed, narrow nature, relying only on its own authority when making moral assessments, which results in unfounded ambitions when resolving acute conflict situations. The professional environment is a fundamentally conservative element; traditions and foundations play a huge role in it. In addition, moral consciousness cannot agree that professionalism is considered the main value of any social practice. If in a specific area of ​​activity there is a need to discuss emerging moral problems, this means that ordinary ideas about professional duty are not enough for its normal functioning.

2. Corporate ethics are enshrined in special codes. Professional codes of ethics are aimed at regulating relations among employees. Such codes regulate employee behavior, increase the status of employees in society, and form a trusting attitude towards them among clients. In a sense, the adoption of such a code is an imitation of the rite of initiation of an individual into the profession.

Codes of ethics tell employees how to behave ethically and help them apply moral principles in their work activities. Corporate codes are not codes in the usual sense because they cannot be forced by orders to act ethically or unethically. Every code must be evaluated from a moral point of view.

Corporate codes vary in form. The purpose of some codes is to inform service workers of legal requirements that they were not previously familiar with, but which they should be aware of. Others set out specific requirements that prohibit abuses such as bribery and illegal contributions. Some organizations develop corporate codes that describe the rules of behavior in a given organization. For example, one company considers it unacceptable to accept gifts from customers, while others allow the acceptance of gifts in the form of a small amount of money.

Some organizations may prohibit giving gifts to clients. Limit the amount of contributions made to the funds of political parties, the acquisition of shares in the company with which they cooperate, as this may cause a conflict of interests.

Corporate codes perform a number of important functions and help solve specific problems specific to a particular profession and which employees may encounter. When a company has established exactly what an employee is allowed to do or not, then he knows exactly what actions are unacceptable in this company. When the most significant ethical dilemmas are posed by the organization, the activities of employees are regulated by the corporate code.

One of the most important tasks of the corporate code is to establish priorities in relation to target groups and ways to harmonize their interests.

There are three other important functions of a corporate code:

• 1) reputational;
• 2) managerial;
• 3) development of corporate culture.

The essence of the reputation function is to form a trusting attitude towards the company on the part of clients, suppliers, etc. The corporate code in this case plays the role of PR, i.e., it increases the attractiveness of the company. The presence of a company code of corporate ethics is becoming a global standard for doing business in the service sector.

The essence of the management function is to regulate the behavior of employees in conflict situations when it is difficult to make the right decision in accordance with ethical standards. There are several ways to improve employee performance:

• 1) regulation of priorities in interaction with significant external groups;
• 2) determining the procedure for making decisions in conflict situations when they comply with ethical standards;
• 3) indications of incorrect behavior from an ethical point of view.

Corporate ethics is an important basis for corporate

culture, the code of corporate ethics is a guarantor of the development of corporate culture. The Code guides all company employees towards ethical values, as well as orienting employees towards common corporate goals and thereby increasing corporate cohesion.

The key system tools in the field of human factor management are: corporate culture and the organization’s code of ethics.

3. Applied ethics is the most popular type of modern moral theory. Moreover, it can be argued that ethics itself, as a moral philosophy, primarily exists in this form. Applied ethics is usually understood as intellectual practices revolving around the discussion of the most controversial, often dramatic dilemmas of the surrounding reality, insoluble from the point of view of ordinary pragmatic calculation. We examined two of these dilemmas in the previous story - lies and violence. It turned out that from the point of view of the possibility of a moral justification for these phenomena, both opposing points of view can be fairly reliably argued, and the debate on this topic can last endlessly. However, both situations considered relate primarily to a person’s personal choice. What if a professional point of view or the interest of a corporation interfered with them? For example, remember the discussion about lying. Many people involved in information flows would argue that deception is very often justified. A representative of a business corporation would also assert his right to misrepresent information for profit. But in any dispute there is another side - humanity itself, which does not want to be a consumer of lies.

Applied ethics arose precisely as a free discussion in which all sides can speak, including morality itself. But most importantly, this dispute is conducted in such a way that the authority of either party does not dominate the possible solution to the conflict situation. So, in this situation, the point of view of a professional is no more valuable than that of an ordinary person, because the broadest consequences of the proposed solutions can be seen not by a narrowly professional view, but by the consolidated opinion of all interested participants. By and large, by inviting dialogue, applied ethics takes the point of view of morality itself, i.e., it seeks to protect people’s ideas about ideal, truly human relationships that have developed over centuries. Therefore, unlike professional and corporate examples, it is not structured in the form of codes and declarations. Applied ethics is, in principle, non-normative, since the situations it discusses cannot be solved by following one, even a very good, requirement. Another thing is that, as a result of the discussion, a specific rule may be born, but its consolidation (legislative and corporate) is a matter for other practices. This type of ethical reasoning comes precisely from ideas about absolute moral values, and from these positions she argues, wanting to limit the one-dimensional pragmatic view of the order of things.

The methodology of applied ethics is quite simple. It is important for her to understand the positions of all parties, listen to their arguments, understand the causes of the conflict, but the main thing is to establish a dialogue between the conflicting parties, as well as those who want to help resolve it. Unlike the two styles of ethics discussed above, it does not seek to regulate anything at all. Her job is to find the most acceptable solution at the moment. Moreover, unlike corporate regulation, it does not need to apply and justify sanctions.