Trust me, I’m a Professional: Exploring the Conditions and Implications of Trust for the Professions

Abstract

The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the ways in which trust and reliance are alike and how they differ. Noting that they are alike in that their raison d’être is an epistemological shortfall, “a knowledge deficit,” attention is directed to the professions, a chief characteristic of which is that a professional possesses knowledge and expertise that her client/patient lacks. It’s that, indeed, that brings them together. It’s also a large part of the explanation of the importance and centrality of trust for the professions and the existence of professional codes of ethics, which serve to nurture and sustain trust. The chapter focuses on the idea that, in the interest of maintaining trust, obligations imposed by a professional code of ethics cannot be overridden (in particular, that ethical considerations from noninstitutional morality cannot be allowed to carry the day against them). It is argued that this idea should be rejected, because a professional’s commitment to a code does not (and morally may not) require abrogation of judgment and conscience and, more specifically, that this commitment must be such that it does not allow the core values of a profession to be sacrificed.

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