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Om professionernes rolle i filosofien

Resumé

It is natural to understand the relationship between philosophy on the one hand and professional education and practice on the other as a question of how philosophy can shed light on and enrich the professional field. In discussions of professional ethics, this may, for example, involve formulating ethical principles or clarifying contested concepts of value. This certainly has its place, and I myself have contributed to such endeavours. However, I shall here attempt to reverse the perspective and instead ask what philosophy can learn from the professions. This stems from my experience of teaching courses to nurses, social workers, social educators and other ‘helping professionals’ on ethically responsible professional practice. In this context, the learning has flowed at least as much from the students to the teacher as the other way round. In my view, the reason there is so much to learn is that professional practice is steeped in ethics and deeply held values, which can inform many abstract philosophical considerations. I would like to make some general remarks on this and highlight two more specific examples. The first concerns the very nature of ethics: what does it actually mean to act ethically? The second concerns the idea of human dignity: what does this idea mean, and what considerations and obligations are associated with it? These two questions turn out to be closely linked.