The whole point of the article is that enforced profession ethics are a leverage tool. If you don't have enforcement, you don't have that leverage. It's not pre

The whole point of the article is that enforced profession ethics are a leverage tool. If you don't have enforcement, you don't have that leverage. It's not pretentious, it's simply factual. If you say "It violates my professional ethics to program the drivers for an orphan blender", your boss can fire you and replace you with some other developer with no such scruples. If a professional engineer says "It violates my (enforced) professional ethics to sign off on the blade design of this orphan blender, and anybody who did would lose their licensing", then their boss could fire them, but they're not going to get their blade signed off.