Promote our interests

I once heard a postdoctoral fellow refer to researchers as pack animals. It’s true, even the most hardened and self-absorbed of egoists at the university must cooperate with others. Every graduate student has his or her committee; every faculty member has his or her task force; and every department chair consults with others, publicly in seminars and privately in the hall. But why, we might ask, would an egoist care about the pack? Why wouldn’t egoists simply find out what their professional codes say about some issue, decide whether it serves their own interests – obey it if it does, ignore it if it doesn’t – and move on?

Now, on occasion, a code might contain confusing advice or have two rules that contradict each other. Most codes, for example, tell professionals that their education and training entitle them to autonomy. That is, they have the right to use discretion about professional matters – as, for example, when a professor decides to deal with a disruptive student in class by having a private conversation with that student. However, the same code may also require that the professor report all disruptions to the dean. How can the professor both report and not report a class disruption? It’s a puzzle. Is the professor entitled to legislate for herself in this matter, or must she defer to an authority? To protect themselves, egoists must be prepared to say why they’ve not conformed to professional codes – if that’s what they’ve done – and know how to handle potential conflicts while working within the requirements of their professional codes. They must know how to give reasons for the rules in the code.