Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 15

Ethics - Essay Example The modern times have however shown that there is no place for descriptive-normative gaps for the explanation of ethical naturalism and that this ethical naturalism has become a â€Å"naturalistic fallacy† far from the post modern notions of blatant relativism.Therefore I would agree with the proposition that there has been a necessary shift from Modernity to Post-Modern, towards a knowledge based ethical discourse. To illustrate my argument I would like to base my argument pertaining to the post modern shift in ethical notions upon an example of the emerging notion of â€Å"expert professionalism† in sociological terms. Take the example of modern professional ethics. Steven Brint (1994), a sociologist, has referred to the notion of professionalism and ethics as â€Å"social trustee professionalism,† which banks on the notions of the professionals being aware of their social contract with the larger society. For Brint (1994) the conclusion is that the past decades have seen â€Å"a key historical change† in a transition from what was initially â€Å"social trustee professionalism† to what is the modern day â€Å"expert professionalism†. This view is shared by Sullivan (2004:28) who has termed this transition in professionalism as the loss of â€Å"the ethical-social values of professional identity†. Thus to add to Brint’s analysis Sullivan (2004:32) has also spoken of the need to have the professional education â€Å"restructured in ways that suffuse technical competence with civic awareness and purpose†. Therefore what has replaced the social trustee professionalism is an audit culture. According to Pels [(2000:148) as cited by Fertig (2003)] this audit culture is â€Å"...the shift, in anthropological ethics, from professionalism to audit [being] yet another instance of the swing of the liberal pendulum from a romantic primacy of the ethical to a utilitarian primacy of the economic†. This dichotomy has been further classified by Stronach et al