Final answer:
Professional codes of conduct aim to establish guidelines that ensure ethical and professional behaviour within various fields such as engineering and sociology, ensuring public welfare, privacy, and environmental protection.
Step-by-step explanation:
Professional codes of conduct in the modern sense are designed to guide behaviors within professions by setting ethical and professional standards. These codes serve to ensure that professionals act with integrity, accountability, and in accordance with established norms that benefit the public, clients, and the profession itself.
For instance, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Computer Society (IEEE-CS) stipulates in its Software Engineering Code of Ethics that software engineers must ensure software passes tests, meets specifications, and does not harm the environment or infringe on privacy rights.
In a broader sense, these codes of conduct link concrete ethical practices to larger dimensions of moral philosophy, highlighting considerations about the general welfare, rights, and duties that surpass individual judgment. Such frameworks help professionals navigate complex scenarios, like when to prioritize transparency over privacy, or balancing public interest against economic incentives.
Moral frameworks, such as the American Sociological Association's Code of Ethics, address morality's societal aspect. They recognize that adhering to moral norms is partly motivated by community reinforcement. Societies have moral norms, and professional codes of conduct echo these norms by providing concrete guidelines catered to specific professional contexts.