Mohammad Adam 712006392

Engineering 482: Essay 1 Civilizations have seen great changes, and survived over the years by functioning as societies. However, there was and never will be a perfect way to act in accordance with expectations of others. So how does one go about being an active part of the society, or to a lesser extent survive in such a demanding environment and be part of it? The answer is simple: acting in accordance to the social norm at the time and striving to achieve balance between your conduct and the societies understanding of normal. Many philosophers have understood this branch of philosophy and called it ethics. However, its important to note that there arises another question of ones own will and personal understanding of morals before they are tainted by the standards of the society. The answer lies within ones personal morality and how it compares to that of the society they live in. Introducing my personal ethics as an example would help further clarify my solution. My personal ethics were given to me by the environment I often take for granted. It started at an early age with my parents where things were awarded for good behavior and withheld for bad acts. Soon these two became very distinguished from one another as I noticed the results of my actions. If the results were positive I was rewarded and when negative I was punished. This trend of learning was continued in school and seemed to be universal when dealing with others. And for some reason although unspoken I saw that everyone else was following the same code of ethics so I knew these rule applied to everyone, but there were some who were always getting the wrong end of the stick. After sometime, out of curiosity I questioned my parents about those kinds of people and why they acted like that. The explanation gave way to a new set of rules which were a little more specific, introducing me to religion. These rules explained how it was bad to even think about doing harm to someone, where everything you get has to be earned, helping others was favored, keeping away from

Mohammad Adam 712006392

people who do bad was important, respecting others and their belongings was important. The most confusing thing to me was how I had to follow these rules even when I was not interacting with others. I now understand things a little better where good is separate from the bad and following these rules must be followed to digress with others. Later as it followed, when I was in trouble because of my actions I knew automatically that I had not followed on acting in accordance with my personal moral ethics, and in doing so had also broken some social contract. Although it is human nature to think of ones benefit when an opportunity befalls it is equally important that one question their actions in light of their moral ethics. These two often will coexist naturally as the society shares the same environment that gave you your personal morals to begin with. As we move forward it becomes impossible to avoid comparing our personal moral ethics to ethics of special institutions that serve a very professional role in weaving the fabric of our society. One example of such an institution could be the professional engineering society and their ethics. Striving to meet the standards of public welfare and safety set at the highest standards by exhausting your qualification as such seems to explain what is expected in this case. Looking back on to personal morals and applying those to ethics of such a society would be the only way to fit into such a professional institution. My personal moral ethics tell me to always think about the benefit of others and execute actions accordingly, to respect other and their belongings (ideas) keep away from bad ideas and practices that go against the good of the general public. Getting into the specific scenarios there will undoubtedly be conflicts as to my definition of good and the outcome of my actions. This requires a thorough understanding of the rules of the professional society where good is only when it aligns to the societies definition of good. In doing so good becomes; more universal in the professional field, and is less specific to me in person or my company.

Mohammad Adam 712006392

In conclusion personal ethics and professional ethics will align themselves for the outcome to be good, and where conflict arises one has to give way to the latter for the greater good to take place. This is exactly how the society is upheld in our dealings and our personal moral ethics only bolster the notion of good. If for whatever reason the result after following these ethics does not result in a positive outcome, the ethics need to change sometimes on an institutional level.