Circumstantial Ethics

Codes of professional practice cannot anticipate the myriad particularities of ordinary endeavors but, to be broadly applicable, they state principles and aspirations in general terms. Of necessity, practitioners must interpret and adapt them in application, often prioritizing standards according to a situation-specific hierarchy of values. The difficulties of managing conflicts among formal standards and among professional and personal standards are illustrated in two examples from practice. For evaluators, the mediation of human judgment reveals an inevitable but troubling subjectivity, a threat to the credibility of a field in which professional disinterest is an expected tool for disentangling competing criteria.