professional

Professional is a trendy word. Especially in a professional context. It is ethically loaded, in a positive way.

One finds examples in the literature.

It is often connoted with competence, seriousness, efficiency and dedication.

But is this justified? Was Einstein a professional physicist as he devised his theories of relativity? Or Darwin when he built his theory of evolution?

Professional can be opposed to amateur (as in Bruno Latour positing himself as amateur de sciences), void from emotional ties, or passions (and Hegel thought that nothing great in the world has been achieved without passion).

What are the basic meanings of professionalism? Larry Wall offers one: get paid for it. Professionalism is mediated interest, objectified through basic quantification (that is, money).

Another is given by Lotus Professional branding: professional products are designed for users who cannot be expected to care, who will be rougher, and more numerous, than domestic users.

The two synthesize into: for customers, not for oneself.