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Ethics: a matter of trust. (Features).

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The drafting of a code of ethics was the first significant accomplishment of the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers, following its birth in 1932. Due to the changing needs of society, broadening of the activities of the professional appraiser, this code has been continually revised and restated.

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"Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee." Proverbs 3:29

Every man owes a particular duty to his neighbor, who goes to sleep every night in complete confidence that the man next door is not scheming to rob him or harm one of his family. Without such trust the world would be a jungle; no creative work could be done to benefit mankind, because all of man's efforts beyond providing food and shelter would be expended on surveillance and survival. In fact, it is partly because man is a moral creature that he is not relegated to a jungle-like society as are the dumb beasts.

This is not to say that man is moral rather than immoral. Every newspaper reminds us of the cruelties and chicaneries to which human beings are prone. But man is moral versus amoral. That is, he is a creature capable of making moral judgments and is responsible for the outcome of those judgments. Although the rapidly rising rate of violent crime in the United States is a source of great concern, we are so accustomed to minor thefts, assaults, and embezzlements that we scarcely turn our head when we hear of a new one.

Thus, in a non-amoral society we have come to accept an accommodation with a certain amount of immorality. Sometimes the accommodation is a choice between two evils. We accept pornography rather than embrace censorship because we dare not give up a free press. We accept the abuse by criminals of our court system rather than give up the right to trial by jury. Because of these accommodations and the prevalence of a high rate of crime and dishonesty, we maintain a more or less constant vigilance against criminals and cheats. We lock our cars and houses. We insist on registration of securities, insurance on our bank deposits, indemnity against lawsuits, and written warranties on new products.

But despite the prevalence of dishonesty and our instinctive or conditioned reflexes against the daily opportunities to be swindled, there still are relationships built on trust. There still are situations in life where human beings place absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of others--and have every right to do so: under the surgeon's knife, turning our children over to a public education system, submitting our life and property to the judgment of a jury of our peers, designating an executor for our estate, and asking a neighbor to look after our house.

This is why the public outcry is so great when someone violates a position of trust. We are dismayed at reports of jury misconduct, bribery of a judge, or negligence of a doctor. "To whom much is given, much is required." This applies both to responsibility and compensation. Because surgeons are well-paid, we excuse no carelessness. Because jurors hold lives and fortunes in their hands, we condone no jury misconduct.

One of the great lessons of Watergate is the need for standards and guidelines of ethical conduct on the part of appointive as well as elected public officials. Strangely enough, we never hear of a cry for ethics among thieves. Confident men never have drawn up professional standards or appointed grievance committees.

Ethics Defined

The point is this: "ethics" are those axiomatic norms of conduct, frequently undefined but almost always well-understood, that the public expects and demands of men and women occupying positions of trust. Ethics, by definition, are...