Overview of Themes

Engineering as Social Experimentation.

To undertake a great work, and especially a work of a novel type, means carrying out an
experiment. It means taking up a struggle with the forces of nature without the assurance of
emerging as the victor after the first attack.
- Louis Marie Henri Navier (1785 1836)
All products of technology present some potential dangers, and thus engineering is an
inherently risky activity. In order to underscore this fact and help in exploring its ethical
implications, we suggest that engineering should be viewed as an experimental process. It is not,
of course, an experiment conducted solely in a laboratory under controlled conditions. Rather, it
is an experiment on a social scale involving human subjects.
This model underscores the need for engineers to accept and share responsibilities for
their work, exercise due care, imaginatively foresee hazards, conscientiously monitor their
projects when possible and alert others of dangers.

Ethics and Excellence: Moral Values are embedded in Engineering

Moral values are embedded in engineering projects as standards of excellence, not
tacked on as external burdens.
Martin and Shinzinger, 2010, p. 2
Moral values are embedded at several junctures in engineering projects, including the
basic standards of safety and efficienct, the structure of technological corporations as
communities of people engaged in shared activities, the character of engineers who spearheaded
technological progress, and the very idea of engineering as a profession that combines advanced
skill with commitment to the public good.
In engineering as well as in other professions, excellence and ethics go together- for the
most part and in the long run.

Engineering is about people as well as products, and the people include engineers who
stand in moral (as well as monetary ) relationship with the costumers, colleagues, employers and
the general public.

Promoting Responsible Conduct and Preventing Wrong-doing.

Compliance issues are about making sure that individuals comply to professional
standards and avoid wrong doing. Procedures are needed in all corporations to deter fraud,theft,
bribery, incompetence, and a host of other forms of outright immorality.
Equally essential are reasonable laws and Government regulations, including penalties
for reckless and negligent conduct.
Moreover, an important part of engineering ethics is preventing wrong- doing in the first
place. There is a need for what we have referred to as preventive ethics; ethical reflection and
action aimed at preventing moral harm and unnecessary ethical problems.
The main emphasis in ethics should be supporting responsible conduct. In fact , the vast
majority of engineers are morally commited. So too are most corporations should be valuedriven rather than simply preoccupied with complianced-based procedures, to invoke terms
used in management theory.
Not only do individual engineers have to be conscious of engineering ethics, but also
companies. Companies have to be aware of their Corporate Social Responsibility and
Environmental Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility is a companys responsibility to
give back to the community that they profit from and to behave ethically so that both they and
their community can benefit. Environmental Responsibility is a businesss initiative to leave the
environment (where it is taking its resources from) the same, if not better, that it is found it.

Myriad Moral Reasons Generate Ethical Dilemmas

An ethical dilemma is a complex situation that often involves an apparent mental conflict
between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another. The
topics of ethics, integrity, compromise and corruption have to become as important as other
critical areas of law enforcement training if significant changes can occur (Gilman, 1999). This is
also called an ethical paradox since in moral philosophy, paradox often plays a central role in
ethics debates. Ethical dilemmas are often cited in an attempt to refute an ethical system or moral
code, as well as the worldview that encompasses or grows from it.
The engineer should reject any paper that is intended to harm the general interest, thus
avoiding a situation that might be hazardous or threatening to the environment, life, health, or
other rights of human beings.
In engineering as elsewhere, moral values are myriad and they can come into conflict,
requiring good judgment about how to reconcile and integrate them. We emphasize that ethical
dilemmas need not be a sign that something has gone wrong, instead , they indicate the presence
of moral complexity. That complexity would exist even if we could eliminate all preventable
problems, such as corporate scandals.

Micro and Macro Issues

Micro issues concern the decisions made by individuals and companies and the internal
relations of the engineering profession. Macro issues concern more global issues, such as the
directions in technological development, the laws that should or should not be passed, and the
collective responsibilities of groups such as engineering professional societies and consumer
groups. Both micro and macro issues are important in engineering ethics and often they are
interwoven.

Cautious Optimism About Technology

The most general macro issues pertain to technology in its entirety, including its overall
promise and perils. Pessimist view advanced technology as ominous and often out of our control.
They point to pollution, depletion of natural resources, mass death on highways and in high tech
wars, fears of biological and chemical weapons, and the lingering threat of nuclear war. Optimist
highlight how technology profoundly improves all our lives. Each of us benefits in some ways
from the Top 20 Engineering Experiments in the twentieth century.
As engineers, we are cautiously optimistic about technology. Nothing is more central to
human progress than sound technology, and no aspect of creative human achievement is less
appreciated by the public than engineers ingenuity.
Engineers must be consistent with the social experimentation model, the exuberant
confidence and hopeso essential to technological progress needs to be accompanied by sober
realism about dangers.

What is Engineering Ethics?

Engineering ethics is the field of applied ethics and system of moral principles that apply
to

the

practice

of engineering.

The

field

examines

and

sets

the

obligations

by engineers to society, to their clients, and to the profession. As a scholarly discipline, it is

closely related to subjects such as the philosophy of science, the philosophy of engineering, and
the ethics of technology.
It is the study of the decisions, policies, and the values that are morally desirable in
engineering practice and research. It is the field of applied ethics which examines and sets
standards for engineers' obligations to the public, their clients, employers and the profession
Engineering Ethics is the set of rules and guidelines that engineers adhere to as a moral
obligation to their profession and to the world. Engineering is a professional career that impact
lives. When ethics is not followed, disaster often occurs; these disasters not only include huge

monetary costs and environmental impacts, but also often result in the loss of human life.
Engineering Ethics applies to every engineer and is very important.

Why study Engineering Ethics?

Engineers shall at all times recognize that their primary obligation is to protect the
safety, health, property, and welfare of the public. If their professional judgment is overruled
under circumstances where the safety, health, property, or welfare of the public are endangered,
they shall notify their employer or client and such other authority as may be appropriate.
This means that engineers should always be aware that their safety and the safety of those
around them comes before anything, including any engineering projects they take on, no matter
how wonderful the end product might be. That being said, engineering standards change from
one professional engineering society to the next because of the work that different type of
engineers do. For example, the work that a civil engineer does (e.g. construct a bridge) will be
different from the work that a biomedical engineer does (e.g. making an artificial heart).
However, no matter what type of engineer you are, Engineering Ethics is important because if
you do not follow it you can be putting yours and someone elses life in danger.
In the professional world, ethical engineering problems come up in many cases. One of
these includes the case of a professional using someone elses work that is published in the
widespread market of publication. Another is the case of a professional using someone elses
work that is not published yet and stealing their idea. Engineers who have good engineering
ethics often have a good sense of the value of life. They dont hesitate to admit that they made a
mistake because they know that the cost of not owning up to your mistakes can have disastrous
consequences. It might even cost a human life.

Skills in improving the ability to reflect on Moral Issues

1. Moral Awareness
Proficiency in recognizing moral problems and issues in engineering

2. Cogent Moral Reasoning

Comprehending , clarifying, and assessing arguments on opposing sides of moralo
issues
3. Moral Coherence
Forming consistent and comprehensive viewpoints based upon a consideration of
relevant facts.
4. Moral Imagination
Discerning alternative responses to moral issues and receptivity to creative
solutions for practical difficulties.
5. Moral Communication
Precision in the use of a common ethical language skill is needed to express and
support ones moral view adequately to others.
6. Moral Reasonableness
The willingness and ability to be morally reasonable.
7. Respect for Persons
Genuine concern for the well biengof others as well as oneself.
8. Tolerance of Diversity
Within a broad range, respect for ethnic and religious differences and acceptance
of reasonable differences in moral perspective.
9. Moral Hope
Enriched appreciation of the possibilities of using rational dialogue in resolving
moral conflicts.
10. Integrity

Maintaining moral integrity and integrating ones personal life and personal
convictions.