SYMPOSIUM: ETHICS IN A PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY ABSTRACT

SUMMARY First paper is by an academic psychologist who gives something of the history of ethics and develops that section which has lead to Law-making and then applies the principles to a circumscribed group with interdependence as exemplified in a modern profession, Second paper discusses the growth of ethical controls by mutually agreed restrictive rules, the means of securing obedience to those rules, the advantages and dangers to thte profession as a whole, the need to set each rule by considering its advantage to the public external to the profession. Third paper discusses the establishment and maintenance of ethical behaviour by Statutes, Statutory Rules or Regulations and under the supervision of Statutory Boards and the like; the relationship and interdependence of voluntary and legal sanctions. Fourth paper by a Professional Practitioner discusses how a member of the professional community feels about ethical rules. Those which are common courtesy and need no codifying, those which arise from a feeling of mutual need within the group, those which are artificially applied by a forceful minority, still within the group, and those which are applied by forces external to the group. Minimum of Rules the best. Maintenance of a standard easier than the establishment in the first place. The conclusion by the Chairman discusses how the need to protect a well meaning majority from a malignant minority, the real basis of Law has been harnessed to the advance of ethical standards in professions, how lagging professions may be advanced to the highest current standards, how interprofessional standards can be interrelated, and how evils and restrictive tendencies may be mitigated. What is the path to the future?