Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher and founder of ethics, included ethics in the classification of sciences as a branch of practical sciences. It is practical philosophy. Knowledge of ethics underlies the correct assessment of one’s actions, correlating the activities and interests of each individual with the interests of the collective and society as a whole.
The main provisions of ethics were first systematically presented in the works of Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, and Magna Moralia. Aristotle characterized ethics as the science of human morality and virtue, based on moderation and prudence. Rational actions, avoiding extremes, and the striving to maintain the “golden mean” contribute to human self-realization and constitute the basis of happiness. The term “ethos” (habit, custom, character, usage) originally meant a shared dwelling in antiquity. Later, other meanings of this term appeared: “custom, temperament, morals.” In Aristotle’s works (4th century BC), the term “ethical” was used to characterize the main human virtues.
At the same time, in Rome, the term moralitas—“morality”—was used to denote character and custom. It was in this way that Cicero translated the term “ethical” from Greek. Initially, the concepts of “ethics” and “morality” coincided in meaning and differed only in origin. Later, ethics came to denote the science of morality, understanding morality as norms, customs, and mores. Morality became the subject of ethics (V.A. Tsvyk). In Russian and German, the concepts of “morality” and “morals” (нравственность) are often used as synonyms in everyday speech and even in scientific literature. Hegel, in his philosophical system, proposed distinguishing the subject areas of these concepts. Since then, it has been customary to distinguish between morality (Ger. Moralität, Eng. moral, morality) and morals (Ger. Sittlichkeit, Eng. morals, virtues).
Morality came to be understood as “the ought”; it includes a system of universal human and historical norms established within a specific society. Morality, along with the law, serves only as an external requirement for an individual’s behavior.
Morals—understood as “the is”—represent the real mores and orders operating in a given society. Morals represent a person’s internal disposition to act according to their conscience and free will. From this perspective, morality is recognized as a “prosthesis” for morals.
Ethics clarifies the place of morality in the system of social relations, analyzes its nature and internal structure, and theoretically justifies one or another of its systems.
The Golden Rule of Morality
The “Golden Rule of Morality” is considered the oldest ethical norm of behavior. There are two interpretations of the “Golden Rule”—positive and negative.
Positive interpretation: “Treat people as you want others to treat you,” or “Act towards others as you would want them to act towards you.”
Negative interpretation: “Do not treat people in ways you would not want to be treated; do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.”
Structure of Modern Ethics
With the development of civilization, the number of types of activities and various life situations requiring clear moral regulation has increased. Consequently, the structure of modern ethics has become more complex. In addition to the general theory of morality, it includes various types of ethics arising from the concretization of general ethical requirements in relation to a particular sphere of human activity.
Ethics is divided into general and special.
General ethics includes: descriptive ethics, normative ethics, and meta-ethics.
Descriptive ethics is closely related to anthropology, sociology, and psychology. It describes and analyzes the morality of a people, culture, or society, compares and distinguishes diverse moral systems, codes, types of practical activities, principles, and values.
Normative ethics, on this basis, develops, presents, and justifies a harmonious system of morals, identifies fundamental moral principles, and substantiates the basic principle of morality. It addresses the question of how a person ought to act.
Meta-ethics, as an analytical discipline, investigates the logic of moral thinking and deals with the categorical analysis of moral concepts.
Special ethics applies the principles of general ethics to solve specific problems in specialized types of human activity. In Russia, the term “applied ethics” is often used to denote this area of knowledge. The concept of “applied ethics” is presented ambiguously in the literature. Four variants of interpretations can be found: 1) applied ethics arises from the application of ethical theory to practice and traces its roots back to antiquity; 2) applied ethics is professional ethics in the context of the development and complication of professional activity in the modern community; 3) applied ethics is a collection of a special kind of moral problems generated by the modern technological community; 4) applied ethics is the newest stage in the development of ethics, characterized by the fact that in the modern world the theory of morality directly merges with the moral practice of society.
The subject field of the concept “applied ethics” is broader than the subject field of the concept “professional ethics.”
Professional Ethics
Professional ethics is a type of applied ethics. Its emergence is conditioned by the genesis of professional morality. In any sphere of professional activity, there are specific ethical norms. Professional ethical norms represent certain socially necessary moral requirements reflected in moral consciousness in the form of corresponding rules and commandments. Professional ethical codes represent a conscious aggregate of norms and principles of a specific professional group. They accumulate the social and professional experience of many generations.
Hierarchy of Moral Imperatives in Professional Ethical Codes
- Universal human moral requirements related to the humanistic attitude of people towards each other: justice, duty, conscience, responsibility.
- Norms of labor morality prescribing the necessity of a moral attitude towards labor activity in general, without distinguishing professional specifics.
- Ethical norms serving to protect values specific to a certain kind of professional activity.
- Moral rules concerning the relationship between a given profession and society.
Voluntary and strict observance of these norms is an indicator of the development and prosperity of a profession. A feature of professional ethics is that normativity acquires a maximally concrete meaning in it. The problems of the meaning of life, human destiny, the essence of good and evil, the content of moral duty revealed by normative ethics, and the specific moral principles and norms justified by it receive concrete application in professional ethics in relation to a particular type of professional activity.
Professional ethics views the normative professional behavior of an employee as predetermined and prescribed by certain moral norms.
Each type of activity (scientific, pedagogical, artistic, etc.) corresponds to specific types of professional ethics. For each profession, certain professional moral norms acquire special significance. Professional moral norms are rules, patterns, and an order of internal self-regulation of the individual based on ethical ideals.
Types of Professional Ethics
The main types of professional ethics are: medical ethics, pedagogical ethics, the ethics of the scientist, actor, artist, entrepreneur, engineer, etc. Each type of professional ethics is determined by the specifics of professional activity and has its own specific requirements in the field of morality.
Thus, for example, the ethics of a scientist implies, first of all, such moral qualities as scientific integrity, personal honesty, and patriotism. Judicial ethics requires honesty, justice, openness, humanism (even towards the accused if guilty), and loyalty to the law. Professional ethics in military service requires clear fulfillment of official duty, courage, discipline, and devotion to the Motherland.
In the textbook by Doctor of Psychology, Professor V.N. Karandyshev, Psychology: Introduction to the Profession (2009), three types of the psychological profession are described:
- Psychology teacher. Their main activity is psychological enlightenment and teaching psychological knowledge (giving lectures, seminars, practical classes, guiding people’s psychological self-education).
- Practicing psychologist. They apply psychological knowledge to solve practical problems, engage in psychological diagnosis and counseling, corrective and developmental work, and psychological prevention.
- Research psychologist. They conduct scientific research aimed at finding new psychological knowledge (explaining psychological patterns).
Professional Ethics in the Work of a Psychologist
Professional ethics in the work of psychologists constitutes a system of principles and norms of activity that contribute (in situations of professional responsibility of specialists) to psychological support, the integrity of the personality, and the mental health of specific people. In applied psychology, the ethics of the psychologist is intended to ensure the humanistic orientation of solving professional tasks and socially significant goals of society while preserving the psychological ecology of the individual and society as a whole.