The genesis of learned-service professions (e.g. law, medicine, ministry) is a moral calling to serve the good of society. As such, a profession's ethical development must be sufficiently mature to meet the demands of a calling. Although therapeutic recreation seeks the status of a learned-service profession, far greater effort must be given to ethical development before it can be attained. After establishing that therapeutic recreation is inherently value-laden and ethical, four developments in ethical theory are introduced that would contribute to a more robust and rigorous theory and practice of therapeutic recreation. They include virtue ethics, feminist ethics, ethics of care, and communicative ethics. Three strengths shared by these theories are their attention to context, dialogue, and diversity. Blended from contributions from these and other theories, an eclectic ethics is recommended for therapeutic recreation. Suggestions for educational reform are also offered, especially regarding the development of virtue. Above all, this broad discussion is intended as an urgent call for more concerted effort by practitioners and educators to improve the theory and practice of ethics in therapeutic recreation.