In today's society, the figure of the "professional" is seen as the ideal for economic activity and social inclusion, and beyond that, even as a model for individual self-development. In her current publication, Dr Tiziana Faitini, at the time a Junior Fellow at the Max-Weber-Kolleg for Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt, develops a nuanced history of the concepts of "appointment" and "professional ethos", offering the first comprehensive study of the discourse on professional ethics from a historical perspective. She used an extensive corpus of philosophical, legal and theological sources predominantly from Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom as a research basis, which are discussed in the context of a long journey from ancient Rome to the present.