Professional Ethics

Karen Lebacqz here offers a logical yet eminently human framework for ethical decision making. Quoting and clarifying the thoughts of the field's top authorities, Dr. Lebacqz summarizes the issues and questions that have, until now, served as the boundaries of debate. Then she moves beyond that; formulating new questions, demonstrating why the answers to those questions are critical, laying the groundwork for what eventually emerges--a new way of perceiving and resolving complex ethical questions. Professional Ethics: Power and Paradox utilizes the "praxis" method of analysis. An actual ethical dilemma is offered, then treated theoretically throughout the text in order to demonstrate how a professional decision involving the dilemma might be reached. Central to the ethical framework offered here is the focus on three steps toward a decision: action (what are the available alternatives?); character (what does it mean to be a professional in relation to the question?); and structure (how do structures limit or modify the alternatives?). The resolution of these and related, subordinate questions, Dr. Lebacqz asserts, is the foundation of a new framework for ethical decision making.