Ethical maturity in the helping professions :

Carroll, Michael, 1945-

Ethical maturity in the helping professions : making difficult life and work decisions / Michael Carroll and Elisabeth Shaw ; foreword by Tim Bond. - Kew, Vic. : PsychOz Publications, 2012. - 380 p. ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 361-380).

Part one: The foundations of ethical maturity: history, philosophy and science. 1. Setting the scene: the moral landscape -- 2. Ethical maturity and unethical behaviour -- 3. A very, very short story of ethics -- 4. Socrates and Aristotle: moral character and moral action -- 5. The brain and ethics -- 6. Relational ethics -- 7. What is ethical maturity? -- Part two: The six components of ethical maturity. 8. Component 1: Creating ethical sensitivity and mindfulness -- 9. Component 2: The process of ethical decision making -- 10. Component 2: Maximising choices: free will, accountability and responsibility -- 11. Component 2: Conscious ethical discernment and decision making -- 12. Component 2: The influence of the unconscious on ethical decision making -- 13. Component 3: Implementing ethical decisions -- 14. Component 4: Ethical accountability and moral defence -- 15. Component 5: Ethical sustainability and peace -- 16. Component 6: Learning from experience and integrating new learning into moral character -- 17. Training in ethical maturity -- Part three: Applied ethical maturity in challenging contexts. 18. Organisations, contexts, ethics and maturity -- 19. Bought and sold: the ethics of gifts -- 20. The ethics of research: enhancing knowledge and being ethically mature by Professor Tim Bond -- 21. And finally...

Most practitioners head for codes of ethics and ethical frameworks to help them resolve ethical issues and dilemmas. They go 'outside' rather than 'inside'. Ethical Maturity in the Helping Professions suggests a different approach that views ethical codes and frameworks as the first stepping stone to a higher ethic - an ethic of fidelity, relationships, and trust. Building on Rest's four components of ethical practice, Michael Carroll and Elisabeth Shaw propose six components that together make up what they call 'ethical maturity' or practical ethical wisdom. Born from who we are, and fashioned on the anvil of experience and knowledge, the book challenges helping professionals to review what they mean by ethics and suggests they step up to a higher ethic of relational accountability.

9780646572598 (pbk.)


Professional ethics
Ethical problems
Decision making

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