Episode 108 - The True Professional Ideal

What qualifies as a 'profession'? What does it mean to be a "professional." The term profession comes from the Latin noun professio, which is derived from the past participle professus, or the verb profiteri, denoting "to declare publicly, own freely, acknowledge, avow." Professionals are said to "profess" something, they stand for something. The noun professional didn't appear in American dictionaries until 1861. In the 18th and 19th centuries 'professions' referred to theology, law, medicine, and education. From the early 17th till the mid-18th century, theology was considered the preeminent profession. It's interesting to note that a trip to the doctor didn't do much good until the 1920s or 1930s with the introduction of antibiotics. Before then, most visits were ineffective and a large number were downright harmful. The Hippocratic principle of primum non nocere -'first, do no harm'- continues to be an essential guideline for all professional conduct.