Personal Ethics Vs. Professional Ethics

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Where does the sense of right and wrong come from? Society has always struggled with the issue of right and wrong. Is it based on perception or is there a universal agreement to what is morally right or wrong? Personal ethics is viewed as the innate sense of knowing and doing what is right and wrong by conscience. This is cultivated within the individual from childhood and varies as they understand deviance through their culture and customs. In contrast to this, professional ethics is a set commandment to prohibit certain behaviour within a body or group of people. In reviewing the article written by Maj Gen Jerry E. White, he explains that in the military there is rather a thin or transparent line between personal ethics and professional ethics …show more content…

Professional ethics is a set commandment to prohibit certain behaviour within a body or group of people. Professional ethics include components such as honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability, confidentiality etc. These codes of practices are enforced to prevent exploitation as well as preserving the integrity of the profession. Personal ethics has to do with a person’s sense of what is right or wrong. The cultural belief of what is right or wrong is usually taught and reinforced at a young age and this can also lead to conflicts in professional ethics. For instances, there are cases where doctors refuse to prescribe the morning after pill, because they believe it will terminate a human’s life. In this case the doctor has omitted professional ethics in favour of their own personal ethics. Likewise, a judge may follow the law and impose a death penalty for an action even though they may not be in favour of …show more content…

This means that one should act accordingly in the work place by putting their values aside and doing what is right by the profession and not as personal ethics would imply, where one would do whatever seems fitting or pleasing to them. Authors such as Kenneth Kipnis and David B. South exemplifies why personal values are not relevant issues in professional ethics and that personal and professional life matters in the shaping of an individual. Kenneth Kipnis and David B. South also believes that when resolving the conflicts, it is important to distinguish between personal values and core professional

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