Abstract
The vocabulary of ethics includes a specialized terminology and unique concepts; both are important if one is to understand the topic. Ethics has both theoretical and practical aspects. Theoretical (also formal) ethics has a long history, beginning in ancient times. Prominent philosophers and religious writers have made important contributions that affect modern professionals. In contrast, practical ethics includes both the study of how people actually behave and the rules, such as codes of conduct, that professionals must follow to maintain their status and privileges. Codes of conduct solidify the ethical expectations for health professionals, their specialties and subspecialties. This chapter provides a basic ethics foundation, and thus it is a point of departure for further exploration.
Health professionals should have an appreciation of ethics as a branch of philosophy in addition to its practical applications. In this chapter, “Philosophical” relates to the formal study of ethics that includes reasoned conclusions on how one ought to behave. “Practical Ethics” here refers to the concrete applications of formal ethics, such as codes of conduct.
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Phalen, R.F. (2017). Philosophical and Practical Ethics. In: Core Ethics for Health Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56090-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56090-8_3
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