Science of Morality as the Bases for Understanding Medical Professionalism

Learning Medical Professionalism from the Perspective of the Science of Morality

Abstract

　Professionalism is the (right) way of being/doing things as a member of a particular profession. Evaluating legitimacy (right/wrong) of one’s behavior or the behavior of others is a moral judgement. Thus, professionalism is a set of desirable moral characteristics of a particular profession. The education of professionalism firstly promotes learning a set of desirable moral characteristics required in a profession. Secondly, it promotes the resolution of conflict with someone who has different moral characteristics. In this article, a possible learning strategy to promote these learning objectives will be explained based on the emerging knowledge of the science of human morality.