Research on professions is a troubled field marked by a reluctance to define its main concept: profession. In this text it is argued that the field has developed dominating perspectives that are of little use for professions themselves in developing identity, collaboration with other professions and increasing quality. Through a discussion of the main problems of the theory of professions, new solutions are suggested, together with a set of guidelines for a theory of professions that would be of use for professions and would-be professions. A number of main positions from earlier research are reviewed. Eight problems are seen as creating the current theoretical “dead end”. The author discusses an integrated set of solutions to resolve these problems.