By Andy Lau, Chair of the College of Engineering Task Force on Ethical, Global,

and Societal Aspects of Engineering

erhaps a way to start is to ask Is ethics important to people? I define ethics as the positive
guidelines we use to guide our behavior and the
systematic study of those guidelines. We study ethics
to better understand our own morals and guidelines,
other ethical models, and ways to resolve ethical
dilemmas where guidelines conflict. By so doing, we
hope to become better people by developing the ability
to make thoughtful choices that are in accord with our
valuesvalues that have been developed by this
process of study and reflection.
Given that ethics involves developing
character and the ability to act thoughtfully when facing ethical choices, the
answer to the above question has to be
yes, ethics is important to people.
Furthermore, though ethical behavior
has always been a challenge for us,
knowing the best course of action is
more difficult today. The problems
facing us personally, socially, and
globally are more complex and thanks to
the media and more widespread educational opportunities, we are better
informed about the consequences of our
behavior and of the people and other
living systems affected by our actions.

Engineering is also a profession. As such, engineers

have specialized knowledge and are entrusted to use
these skills to serve society. Edwin Layton in The Revolt
of the Engineers goes so far as to say that an engineer is
socially responsible for ensuring progress and the
benevolence of technological change. This indeed is
quite a task and implies that engineers must have an
understanding of how their activity affects progress,
and how to do that benevolently.
So how do engineers develop these
additional skills necessary to ensure
benevolent progress? In recent years,
partly in response to a progressive
change in accreditation requirements,
engineering schools and in particular,
the Penn State College of Engineering,
have made a concerted effort to address
ethical issues in the curriculum. The
approaches to engineering ethics can be
broken down into three levels. The first
level is to ensure an understanding of
professional codes of ethics. These
positive guidelines for behavior spell
out the specific obligations and rules of
conduct. They are useful in helping
young engineering students to get a
perspective on what is expected of
them as engineering professionals. Like
most rules or principles though, there
are many times when these codes do not
clearly address a situation, or two or
more of these principles conflict, i.e., they present a
moral dilemma.

Engineers,
perhaps more
than any
other single

occupation, are
responsible for the
artifacts of the
modern world in

which many of us
live.

Yes, ethics is important to people. But,

what additional ethical considerations
do engineers have? Engineers, perhaps
more than any other single occupation, are responsible for the artifacts of the modern world in which
many of us live. This constructed world has both
benefits and risks, ranging from obvious safety and
health issues to issues of equity and environmental
degradation. A key development here is the increased
awareness of the connections between the individual
actions of engineers and the larger world. We now
know that the wonderful technological systems that
provide us with our bounty of goods and services have
a global reach and impact. Whats more, todays
technology can have a profound impact on future
generations.

This is where the second level of

ethics education comes to play,
developing a process for
identifying and solving ethical
problems. Many different
processes are proposed in the
literature, and the specifics are
not as important as the recognition that there are ways to
address these thorny issues. In

Cultivating Moral Awareness and Inquiry

Is Ethics Important to Engineers?

many ways, ethical problem solving processes parallel the
engineering design processes. These involve identifying
and understanding the problem, generating ideas, evaluating ideas, choosing a course of action, and further
evaluating the effects of the action. This last reflection
stage is crucial for the
continual moral
development of the
individual.
A third level of ethics
education emphasizes
the creative part of
ethical problem
solving, the development of moral imagiPennsylvania Department of Environnation. Mark
mental Protections Cambria Regional
Johnson, in Moral
Office Building, Ebensburg, PA. It has
Imagination, defines it
been recognized as a gold-level
as an ability to
green building by the Leadership in
imaginatively discern
Energy and Environmental Design
various possibilities
rating system.
for acting in a given
situation and to
envision the potential help and harm that are likely to result
from a given action. It involves at least two skills: one, the
ability to imagine many possibilities and their consequencesa creative element, and the other, being able to
morally evaluate the possibilitiesa more rational element.
As we become more skilled in using our moral imagination,
we become more sensitive to the pervasiveness of ethical
choices. Too often a lack of attention to the moral importance of actions or technologies has led to serious unintended
moral consequences. With better moral imagination, we
hope that many unintended consequences can be imagined
and considered in the decision-making process.
Being skilled in using our moral imagination is crucial for
engineers. It enables us to open up a larger realm of possibilities for action and to more thoroughly account for the
moral implications of an action. For example, Interface, a
major carpet manufacturer, was designing a new facility in
Shanghai, and one of the processes required a piping loop.
Conventional design recommended a certain piping size and
requisite pump of 95 hp. But by recognizing the assumptions in that conventional design process, and by considering
the impact of the conventional design on energy use and
resultant resource use and pollution production, Interface
engineer Jan Schilman redesigned the piping system to use
only 7 hp, a 92% reduction in energy. This was achieved in
two ways: by using larger diameter pipes and by reducing the

pipe length and number of turns. It turned out that conventional design wisdom results in relatively small diameter
pipes and large horsepower pumps, and does not consider the
placement of components to allow for short, straight runs.
This wisdom is based on the desire to keep costs low and has
become conventional practice. But what the moral imagination helps us to see is that it effectively ignores the
resource and environmental consequences of this design.
Switching to large pipes allows the pumps to be smaller
power and size, thereby reducing their cost and offsetting the
higher cost of the piping. Furthermore, the large pipe system
uses drastically less operating energy, reducing resource use
and the resultant pollution. Assisted by his moral imagination and his engineering skills, Mr. Schilman considered the
moral implications of energy inefficiency and designed an
effective system that did not cost more to purchase, saves
enormously on energy cost, and reduces resource use and
pollution production.
In conclusion, it is evident that in order to be good engineers,
we not only must be technically competent, but we must also
understand how to evaluate the moral implications of our
designs. Through improvements to engineering education,
the next generation of engineers will be better equipped
to resolve ethical issues and anticipate negative consequences, fulfilling societys dreams of a better world.
Thanks to a gift from Charles E. Chick and Joan F. Rolling,
the College of Liberal Arts Rock Ethics Institute and the
College of Engineerings Leonhard Center sponsored Teaching Engineering Ethics, a workshop for Engineering faculty.
Eleven engineering faculty from seven different departments
were given resources for integrating ethics curriculum into
the engineering courses that they teach. The classes that will
have ethics integrated into them as a result of this workshop
will affect literally hundreds of engineering students.

For more information about the Rock Ethics Institute, visit

our Web site at http://rockethics.psu.edu. If you would like
to be on our mailing list, contact us at rockethics@psu.edu
or Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State University, 240 Sparks,
University Park, PA 16802-5201.
Andy Lau is an Associate Professor of
Engineering and Chair of the College of
Engineering Task Force on Ethical, Global,
and Societal Aspects of Engineering. He
helped develop and teach the workshop,
Teaching Engineering Ethics.

This publication is available in alternative media on request.

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Department
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