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comment by Dendrophobe
Dendrophobe  ·  3597 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What is the noblest profession?

I'm with thenewgreen on this, unless we have a specific definition of noble to work with. Is it somebody who helps others? Somebody who helps society (a superset of others)? Somebody who suffers gladly, and/or performs the work no one else wants to do?

The first answer that comes to my mind is doctor, but are all doctors created equal? A plastic surgeon who does celebrity nose-jobs isn't the same as a plastic surgeon who helps burn victims. What about disease research? Is the doctor who dedicates their life to trying to cure a disease that affects 1/10 000 000 more noble than someone who does the same for a disease that affects 1/100?