Etički diskursi socijalnog rada / Ethical Discourses in Social Work

Između profesionalne etike i etike u profesionalnom životu / Between the Professional Ethics and Ethics in Professional Life

Abstract

Given the fact that social work and its classic ethical discourses are the result of modernity, the question is whether it is possible to develop an alternative idea of rationality in the era in which modern rules for the organizing individual life and professional activities do not apply? By moving the boundaries of ethical understanding in the professional, S. Banks (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010) promotes detachment of social work professional ethics towards everyday life ethics. The aim the paper is to explore the theoretical and applicative potency of virtue ethics and the ethics of care as alternative moral theories for the development of everyday life ethics approach. The paper starts with a discussion about the importance of ethics and ethical issues in social work with the presentation of the key settings of traditional ethical approach, ethics and konsekvencionalism and features Banks’ concept of everyday life ethics. In the second part, a selective reference to the ancient founders of virtue ethics of Aristotle and one of the most important contemporary virtues theorist Alasdair McIntyre elaborates the key elements of the virtue ethics as a moral theory focused on the individual. The ethics of concern is presented in the third section. The fourth part discusses the potential points of intersection between social work as
a professional activity and the aforementioned ethical theory, showing that it is possible to use the ethics of virtue and ethics of care as a political and ethical framework to address the challenges that arise in the encounter between today's pluralistic framework of human existence and social work.