How Should the Concept of a Profession Be Understood, and Is the Notion of a Practice Helpful in Understanding It? ^☆

Abstract

This chapter asks whether it is helpful to consider a profession to be a practice and to what extent this meshes with the idea that ‘profession’ is a moral concept. It examines MacIntyre’s concept of a practice as an activity that pursues internal goods, finds that MacIntyre’s articulation of the concept by itself is not enough to describe what it is to be a profession and seeks to supplement this with ideas from others, primarily Miller and Davis. This supplementation, however, still leaves open the question of the origin of a profession’s authority (or licence) to use what can be called the ‘dangerous knowledge’ that differentiates the work of professions from other occupations. For this, Veatch provides useful ideas.

Citation

Millett, S. (2016), "How Should the Concept of a Profession Be Understood, and Is the Notion of a Practice Helpful in Understanding It? ^☆ ", Contemporary Issues in Applied and Professional Ethics (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 29-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-209620160000015002