中国传统社会有四民：士、农、工、商。士是一个社会阶层。他们不仅具有文化知识和社会规范知识，而且具有儒家的价值理念。儒家伦理的中心概念是仁义。同时，维持专制主义的社会制度和宗法家族制度是士的政治立场。西方传统意义的职业领域的从业人员都来源于士这一阶层。士的价值与政治取向的二元性是士大夫们在公共权力的职业领域里的职业伦理的二重性的根源。而在那些远离公共权力的职业领域或在公共权力领域却与民众利益相对远的职业领域，如史官、教育、医疗、以及商业领域人员，既体现了儒家的伦理同时也体现了更为一般性的职业伦理精神。 There are four people in traditional Chinese society: people, agriculture, industry and commerce. Shi is a social class. They not only have the knowledge of culture and social norms, but also have the concept of Confucian values. The central concept of Confucian ethics is benevolence. At the same time, maintaining the despotism of the social system and the patriarchal clan system is his political stand. Practitioners in the traditional Western occupational field come from this class of scholars. The duality of the values ​​and the political orientation of the scholar is the root cause of the duality of professional ethics among the doctors in the field of public power. However, in occupational fields that are far away from public power or in the field of public power, such as historians, education, medical care, and commercial fields, which are relatively far from the interests of the public, embody Confucian ethics as well as more general The spirit of professional ethics.