Engineering Ethics

Morals and Engineering

Ethics is the study of the characteristics of morals, and

involves the moral choices made by individuals as they
interact with other persons.
Engineers need to be aware of ethics as they make choices
during their professional practice of engineering.
Engineering ethics will be defined as the rules and
standards governing the conduct of engineers in their roles
as professionals

The origins of ethics or Morality

The terms ethic or ethical came from a

Greek word ethos
Moral also came from Latin word mores
Originally meant customs, practice,
especially those belonging to some group
as distinguished from another.

Definition of Ethics

Ethics is the moral values.

It also can be defined as disposition or character

Ethics speaks to how we ought to live, that is, how we

ought to treat others and how we ought to manage our
own lives.

Ethics provides understandings which help compel us to

act with intelligence, consideration and understanding.

Ethics is the study of morals

Overall , Morality or ethics can be defined as right or

wrong, good or bad.

Moral philosophy.
Determining rights and wrongs, selecting actions to achieve
good results, evaluating motives.
(attempting to summarise several
definitions)

The achievement of wisdom, choosing actions that are benefical

and acceptable long term; or sustainable. This implies a society
focus.

Ethics, Morals, and the Law

Morals
Principles of right
and wrong

Classification of Actions:
Unethical
Ethical

Ethics
A set of moral
principles guiding
behavior and
action

Legal

Illegal

Laws
Binding codes of
conduct; formally
recognized and
enforced
Company Policies

Unethical
but Legal

Ethical but
Illegal

Function of ethics
Hence from these definitions, we may
understand ethics as a theoretical
background of morals concerned more
about:
Providing guidance for moral decisions and
ethical judgments.
Analyzing and evaluating rational usage of
moral conducts.
Understanding the meaning of moral values.
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Kantian Moral Theory

According to Kantian,
Two types of acts Act from inclination
and Act from a sense of duty or
obligation
A man is acting morally only when he
holds back his preference and obey the
command of duty.
A moral action is that which is done from
a respect for duty and a moral person
is he who acts not from his own
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preference

Kantian Moral Theory

According to Kantian,
Human beings should be treated not
simply as means to ones own ends, but
also as ends in themselves.
Making the right decisions for the right
reasons being the ultimate goal.
The principles ought to be
universalizable; that is, if everyone
adopted the principle, it should not be
self-defeating.
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Islamic Ethics
Islam teaches us:
a code of behavior, and conservation of
social values and gives us a meaning for
our existence.
It helps in toleration and developing
adaptive capacities for stressful events of
life.
It gives us a sense of self-respect and
teaches us about the virtues of family life
and a cohesive society with a sense of
brotherhood.

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Islamic Ethics (continue)

Islamic scholars say: Allhu tal created
three things in Humans:
wisdom (aql),
spiritual heart (qalb), and
Nafs.

Wisdom and nafs are located in our brain and

the spiritual heart is found over the biological
heart, which is in the left side of our chest.
Wisdom tries to understand Islamic knowledge.
It understands Islamic knowledge and its good
and useful as well as evil and harmful
variations or portions.
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Islamic Ethics (Continue )

The spiritual heart decides to do
these good things. It uses the action
nerves, which come out of the brain
and go to the organs, to give orders
to the organs so that they carry out
these good things.
Assimilation of the desire of doing
good or evil things into the spiritual
heart is called ethics or morals
(akhlq).

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Concept of Morality in Islam

Moral Act
A moral act must be the expression of a formed
and stable character. No human being can claim
to have an absolutely formed character unless
he is especially trained.
These require not only moral education but also
an ideal should to be followed.
We can get from Islam which provides such
education in the form of the Quran and an ideal in
the life of Prophet. These are moral acts for
Islamic moral.

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Concept of Morality in Islam

Moral Conduct
The Quran is the code of moral
conduct.
Characters building.
Iman,
Salat,
Saum ,
Zakat and
Hajj.
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