Cultivating Moral Character and Virtue in Professional Practice is a pioneering collection of essays focused on the place of character and virtue in professional practice. Professional practices usually have codes of conduct designed to ensure good conduct; but while such codes may be necessary and useful, they appear far from sufficient, since many recent public scandals in professional life seem to have been attributable to failures of personal moral character. This book argues that there is a pressing need to devote more attention in professional education to the cultivation or development of such moral qualities as integrity, courage, self-control, service and selflessness. Featuring contributions from distinguished leaders in the application of virtue ethics to professional practice, such as Sarah Banks, Ann Gallagher, Geoffrey Moore, Justin Oakley and Nancy Sherman, the volume looks beyond traditional professions to explore the ethical dimensions of a broad range of important professional practices. Inspired by a successful international and interdisciplinary conference on the topic, the book examines various ways of promoting moral character and virtue in professional life from the general ethical perspective of contemporary neo-Aristotelian virtue theory. The professional concerns of this work are of global significance and the book will be valuable reading for all working in contemporary professional practices. It will be of particular interest to academics, practitioners and postgraduate students in the fields of education, medicine, nursing, social work, business and commerce and military service.

Professionals, it is said, have no use for simple lists of virtues and vices. The complexities and constraints of professional roles create peculiar moral demands on the people who occupy them, and traits that are vices in ordinary life are praised as virtues in the context of professional roles. Should this disturb us, or is it naive to presume that things should be otherwise? Taking medical and legal practice as key examples, Justin Oakley and Dean Cocking develop a rigorous articulation and defence of virtue ethics, contrasting it with other types of character-based ethical theories and showing that it offers a promising new approach to the ethics of professional roles. They provide insights into the central notions of professional detachment, professional integrity, and moral character in professional life, and demonstrate how a virtue-based approach can help us better understand what ethical professional-client relationships would be like.

What does it mean to be a good professional? What is the role of courage in professional life? How do we develop the moral qualities of respectfulness, justice and care? Firmly rooted in practice, this book is a timely exploration of the nature and value of a virtue-based approach to ethics in health and social care. Skilfully drawing on relevant moral philosophical literature, Part I offers a clear yet critical account of virtue ethics. Virtue ethics bases ethical evaluations on the moral qualities or character traits of professional practitioners. This approach, the authors argue, is a vital counter-balance to the recent emphasis in professional ethics on the regulation of conduct by rules and procedures. Part II explores the key virtues of professional wisdom, courage, respectfulness, care, trustworthiness, justice and integrity. Each chapter starts with examples from practice and ends with strategies for cultivating these key virtues in education and practice. Ethics in Professional Life is a challenging and original text that is ideal reading for all students, practitioners and academics in the field of health and social care.

This edited collection focuses on the virtue theory and the ethics of social science research.

Though virtue ethics is enjoying a resurgence, the topic of virtue cultivation has been largely neglected by philosophers. This book features essays by philosophers, theologians, and psychologists at the forefront of research into virtue.--Publisher's description.

What does it mean to be a good professional? What is the role of courage in professional life? How do we develop the moral qualities of respectfulness, justice and care? Firmly rooted in practice, this book is a timely exploration of the nature and value of a virtue-based approach to ethics in health and social care. Skilfully drawing on relevant moral philosophical literature, Part I offers a clear yet critical account of virtue ethics. Virtue ethics bases ethical evaluations on the moral qualities or character traits of professional practitioners. This approach, the authors argue, is a vital counter-balance to the recent emphasis in professional ethics on the regulation of conduct by rules and procedures. Part II explores the key virtues of professional wisdom, courage, respectfulness, care, trustworthiness, justice and integrity. Each chapter starts with examples from practice and ends with strategies for cultivating these key virtues in education and practice. Ethics in Professional Life is a challenging and original text that is ideal reading for all students, practitioners and academics in the field of health and social care.

What does pleasure have to do with morality? What role, if any, should intuition have in the formation of moral theory? If something is ‘simulated’, can it be immoral? This accessible and wide-ranging textbook explores these questions and many more. Key ideas in the fields of normative ethics, metaethics and applied ethics are explained rigorously and systematically, with a vivid writing style that enlivens the topics with energy and wit. Individual theories are discussed in detail in the first part of the book, before these positions are applied to a wide range of contemporary situations including business ethics, sexual ethics, and the acceptability of eating animals. A wealth of real-life examples, set out with depth and care, illuminate the complexities of different ethical approaches while conveying their modern-day relevance. This concise and highly engaging resource is tailored to the Ethics components of AQA Philosophy and OCR Religious Studies, with a clear and practical layout that includes end-of-chapter summaries, key terms, and common mistakes to avoid. It should also be of practical use for those teaching Philosophy as part of the International Baccalaureate. Ethics for A-Level is of particular value to students and teachers, but Fisher and Dimmock’s precise and scholarly approach will appeal to anyone seeking a rigorous and lively introduction to the challenging subject of ethics. Tailored to the Ethics components of AQA Philosophy and OCR Religious Studies.