Research Catalog

Title

Ethics and excuses : the crisis in professional responsibility / Banks McDowell.

Author

McDowell, Banks.

Publication

Westport, CT : Quorum Books, 2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

ix, 169 pages; 25 cm

Summary

• "McDowell looks at excuses that professionals give when accused of acting unethically, and asks, when are they valid and when are they not? Most problems of professional ethics are really problems of compliance, he argues, not ignorance of expectations. Professionals typically know what's expected of them, but social and economic pressures make compliance with professional norms difficult.".
• "McDowell maintains that our ethical expectations may need overhauling, given substantial changes that have occurred in how professionals do their work today. They can be easily persuaded that what they are doing is not unethical; it depends on the excuses they give themselves as well as others."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Ethics > United States
• Responsibility > United States
• Excuses

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [163]-166) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction: The Ethical Crisis? -- 2. Responsibility and Excuses -- 3. Ethical Excuses -- 4. Law and Ethics: The Different Systems -- 5. Defenses: The Legal Excuses -- 6. The Fallibility of Human Beings -- 7. The Informal Moral Codes -- 8. The Need to Reformulate Ethical Expectations -- 9. The Professional and the Market - Is Efficiency the Predominant Value? -- 10. The Responsibility of Others toward the Excuse Giver: The Need for Dialogue -- 11. Conclusion.

ISBN

1567203868 (alk. paper)

LCCN

99462239

OCLC

• 43246096
• ocm43246096
• SCSB-3892378

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries