Deontology, the Ethics of Duties and Professions

Doctors were caught cheating on an exam in Antioquia. Should this matter to us? Undoubtedly, doctors take care of us. More concerning is the lack of ethical and loving judgment in some professionals over others. In our culture, we are undervaluing sensitivity, commitment, and discernment regarding the human, the good, and the inconvenient, considerations essential in any profession or trade. Although apocryphal, a certain sentence states that 'a man without ethics is a wild beast at large.' As I know we barely speak of ethics, I present an expression that is set aside, gathering dust in human endeavors: Deontology. According to the RAE, it is 'the branch of ethics that deals with duties, especially those governing a professional activity.' We demand quality and experience from any professional, but we rarely examine the ethics evident in their reputation. I demanded more than enough from my professors. I observed their respectful and cordial treatment alongside their academic sufficiency. I even looked at how they dressed. It's no wonder, as a trainer influences the outcome in their students. This is the case with all professions; just think of one that is exempt from the imperative to act responsibly. Ethics go hand in hand with sensitivity towards others, with responsibility, and simultaneously with life itself. Teaching ethics requires didactic effort, breaking down an intangible through examples, questions, and hypothetical scenarios to put students in situations. Two dangerous temptations in teaching ethics today are: Firstly, treating it as an obvious matter that should be known from home and assumed everyone already knows. Secondly, it's tempting to assume teaching ethics is dull and relegated to religious morality, not ontology and civility. Talking about ethics is easy; it's enough to consider it an act of love, because 'an ethical being will always be a loving being.' Let's put ourselves in the situation, let's make this a conversation among friends, couples, and family. In case you haven't paid attention, ethics is not written with an 'H' in Spanish (ética), it has an accent mark, and it refers to human behavior. As a concept, it includes norms, virtues, and values for acting responsibly towards the common good, that is, lovingly. If we have good reserves of ethics, we help, we improve someone's day, and we even save a life. Ethics should be demanded of the doctor, the artist who entertains and gets paid, the jailer who must differentiate between the normal and the abnormal, and all those who face a decision, consideration, or pronouncement. Let's review the lesson for the ethical exam, because ethics are built alongside character and are tested daily. Ethics and action go together. I leave you with questions: How are we doing with Deontology in our personal and professional practice? Would we do this or that? Let's imagine situations and answer with sincerity.