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Many academics have written about professional ethics; however, there has been relatively little study on the question of how and to what degree ethics in one profession clash with the ethics of another, or with the generally accepted social ethics. For many lines of work, there is little variance between the accepted moral standards of the profession and the surrounding culture and institutions. Typically the variance is a subtle matter of degree or a difference in the priorities assigned to particular duties or functions. It is a difference of emphasis, not substance. Consider the example of medical ethics. Hippocrates cultivated a requisite code for the medical profession requiring confidentiality in the doctor-patient relationship. A refusal to divulge another person's most private matters is a moral standard to which all citizens are considered to be bound, but physicians are expected to follow this standard more stringently to ensure the trust of their patients who must divulge all matter of secrets to allow a proper diagnosis. A doctor's code of ethics also requires using medical expertise only for the good of patients. This is expected of everybody, but is especially true of a doctor who has an unusual capacity to do harm. Likewise, while all of us are expected to be truthful, a college professor must take special care in delivering information to students. Do the same circumstances apply to the pursuit of profit? Since the beginning of the world trade route, writers have asserted the benefits of commerce in their zeal to promote the role of the middle class in a benevolent society. Trade encouraged the exchange of ideas and culture among disparate people, fostering understanding and tolerance. Trade made different societies aware of their interdependence. Although principles of generosity and sharing are not generally advanced by trade, justice and equality are. Still, while many were quick to laud the advantages of commerce, many eighteenth century moralists pointed out contradictions between the teachings of the dominant world religions and the rules of trade. Today, there are many practices often admissible in the pursuit of monetary gain that would meet with stern disapproval in society at large. The unspoken rules of particular professions are pitted against wider cultural mores. Durkheim points to a conflict between a soldier who must be obedient to a hierarchical command structure and a scientist whose moral duty is to question entrenched authority. Free Trade has complicated the application of morals in many situations. Thus, many professions seek to justify what may be perceived as moral misbehavior by the society as a whole by appealing to a difference in the environments in which they conduct their business. Is it the fault of a farmer who fails to pay his loans during a drought? Is that a farmer's bank acts immorally by foreclosing on those loans in order to stay in business and keep their workers employed, even if the action makes the farmer's family homeless? Is a politician justified in lying to the heads of state in other countries if those lies protect their own homelands? Today, many of our attitudes and moral values are as much shaped by economic and political factors as by traditional cultural ethics.