ABSTRACT
Introduction We have argued so far that the social constitution of psychiatrists as moral agents necessitates integration of different ideas including professional and Rawlsian notions of the social contract, virtue, and communitarianism. Our position regarding the ontology of psychiatrists as moral agents combined with the community’s perspective on values provides an approach to ethics that allows for multiple contextual influences, such as the law, professional standards, and conceptions of the good from personal, community, and social perspectives.
