本文的目的在於以臨床心理學中的事例來澄清專業倫理實踐所需的能力及其訓練。所謂的專業倫理實踐指的是當照顧專業人員如臨床心理師在其專業場合經驗到倫理性的危機或倫理兩難，從而採取反應行動。如同許多照顧專業，臨床心理學的發展座落在兩個不同的脈絡，一是作為一項學術學門，另一則是在社會中提供服務的專業。然而學院裡建立知識活動與獲得適當之專業倫理實踐並不是一致的能力。本文認為，學院的知識能力不會自動產生出專業倫理能力；知識能力不等同於倫理能力。只有當我們辨認出知識能力與倫理能力的不同後才能夠以適當的起點來探究專業倫理實踐的「實踐」本質。

This paper intends to clarify the competence and learning for proper professional ethical practice with the examples in clinical psychology. By professional ethical practice I mean the occasions in which caring professionals like clinical psychologists experience the ethicality in jeopardy (or ethical dilemmas) in their practices and act and react thereupon. Like most caring professions, clinical psychology has been carried out within two different contexts; one is as an academic branch and the other as a social enterprise. The operation of knowledge building activities, however, is different from the acquisition of ethically proper practices. This paper argues that, academic knowledge competences do not automatically lead to professional ethical competences; knowledge competences are different from ethical competences. As this differentiation is clarified, a proper starting point for conceptualizing the essence of “practice” in professional ethical practice can be obtained.