The article discusses the thematics of ethics, taking the three last decades of the 20th century as reference. It considers that the current discussion indicates a predominance of the understanding of ethics under a simply practical perspective and quality gauging. There is also an indication that the mere invocation of ethics would be a sign strong enough to reach the desired solution of a problem of intersubjective nature. The paper presents the understanding that the simple use of the term ´ethics´ in the professional areas, such as Library Science, is not enough to solve the ethical issues; therefore its excessive invocation ends up contributing to halt a more realistic understanding of the facts almost entirely dehumanizing the ontological sense of life.
Ethics; Professional ethics; Procedural action; Prescriptive action