The Excuses That Make Professional Ethics Irrelevant
What would be your claim and supporting arguments on this?
In discussing professional ethics it is useful to focus on the excuses that are typically employed by professionals for failing to fulfill their professional duties.
There is reason to believe that the real problems facing professionals are not ones of learning what is morally correct, but of acting in accordance with what is morally correct.
It is therefore useful to focus on the excuses typically made for not acting in accordance with what is morally correct.
On the basis of this conclusion, McDowell goes on to discuss four types of excuses. These are:
- Excuses Involving Claims of Ignorance
McDowell is skeptical of the factual accuracy of most claims of ignorance of what professional ethics requires. Even when the claim is correct it cannot be accepted as a valid excuse, since it is the duty of a professional to know her ethical obligation.
- Excuses Involving Transfer of Responsibility
"Perhaps the most common excuse is that a particular ethical breach was not the agent's responsibility." Evaluating the validity of such an excuse is complicated. Professionals increasingly work in teams in which it may be difficult to determine individual responsibility for ethical lapses in complex professional operations. This difficulty may be seen as pointing to the need for absolute or non-fault liability and for exploring the concept of collective responsibility.
- Excuses Involving Claims of Irrestible Pressure
McDowell distinguishes four sub-types of this excuse. These are claims that:
(a) one has to act unethically to keep pace with competitors.
(b) one is expected to act unethically by one's employer.
(c) one is expected to demonstrate group loyalty.
(d) one is expected to meet financial pressures.
McDowell comments that, in addition to requiring professionals to be strong enough to resist such claims, we ought to consider redesigning social structures and the way professional services are delivered so as to minimize such pressures.
- Excuses Involving the Fault of Machines
Technology is so complex that one must rely on technical experts. No single person can be responsible for the functioning of incredibly complex and integrated technological systems.
McDowell holds that the latter three categories of excuse can possess a degree of validity. To what degree they are valid or simply rationalizations is difficult to determine and will depend on the circumstances of each situation. There is the further issue that bad institutional structures may also play a role in producing actions that run counter to professional ethics. Any discussion of professional wrongdoing needs to take into consideration the institutional setting in which professionals work.
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