ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the reasons for having professional codes of ethics and the complications for moral epistemology that they introduce. Codes publicly express a profession’s commitment to serve its primary value, which fulfills a vital social need, in return for monopolistic control over practice and self-regulation. The problem for moral epistemology arises because a code will typically elevate its central value above its place in our ordinary moral framework, limiting or augmenting the professional’s authority to act on common moral perceptions and creating a gap between professional duties and ordinary moral requirements. This makes the understanding of how to act when conflicts arise in professional practice more complex. The chapter compares types of codes across professions and advocates codes expressed in broad moral standards rather than specific rules, allowing more discretion for individual professionals to make moral decisions.
