Engineering Ethics

An Introduction to Ethics and its

Relevance to the Profession of
Engineering

Module 0 in the “Teaching Engineering Ethics” Series

What is a Profession?
 A Sociological Analysis of Professionalism
 Extensive training
 Vital knowledge and skills
 Control of services
 Autonomy on the workplace
 Claim to ethical regulation

 Professions as Social Practices

 A Socratic Account of Professionalism

Herbert Hoover (on engineering)
 “The great liability of the engineer compared to men of
other professions is that his works are out in the open
where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in
hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the
grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin
air or blame the judge like the lawyers….He cannot, like
the politician, screen his shortcomings by blaming his
opponents and hope that the people will forget. The
engineer simply cannot deny that he did it. If his
works do not work, he is damned forever.”
Ethics Vocabulary

Obligation
Responsibility Virtue
Professionalism
Morals
Character Courage
Integrity
Honesty Accountability
Ideals
Self-Respect
Ethics, Morals, and the Law
Classification of Actions:
 Morals
Unethical
 Principles of right
and wrong Ethical
 Ethics
 A set of moral
Legal Illegal
principles guiding
behavior and action
 Laws
 Binding codes of
conduct; formally
recognized and Unethical Ethical but
enforced but Legal Illegal

 Company Policies
Morals are internalized principles that form a
framework for reasoning and decision making.
Ethics are the process of putting morals into
action.

Legal issues are independent of morals and

ethics.
Laws are created by societies (or at least for
the governing of societies) but cannot
“impose” morals upon individuals.
Laws may be created according to ethical
guidelines
Example:

Late at night, a man has a heart attack on a nearly

empty street while walking to his car with his
teenaged son. His son calls 911 from a cell phone
and then breaks into a closed Rite-Aid and grabs a
package of aspirin and gives his father two tablets
in hopes it will help until the paramedics arrive
Example:

Creating and posting on the Internet (make

available for download) a malicious computer
virus with a damaging payload (and explicit
instructions for implementation and launching of
such a virus)—”free-speech” under the First
Amendment.
Exercises:
A child from a poor family is hungry and stole
a loaf of bread from a shop to feed himself
and his siblings.
a. Illegal but Ethical
b. Legal but Unethical
c. Illegal and Unethical
d. Legal and Ethical
Exercises:
Talking on the phone to your friend who is
having a panic attack while driving to where
they are.
a. Illegal but Ethical
b. Legal but Unethical
c. Illegal and Unethical
d. Legal and Ethical
Exercises:
Casino commercial showing elated winners
throwing money in the air.
a. Illegal but Ethical
b. Legal but Unethical
c. Illegal and Unethical
d. Legal and Ethical
Exercises:
Your wife is giving birth in your car while you
are speeding to the hospital.
a. Illegal and Unethical
b. Legal and Ethical
c. Unethical but Legal
d. Ethical but Illegal
Exercises:
A pharmaceutical company, in their current
research of a drug outsourced to other
country the animal testing to human testing
where it’s cheaper to run and ethics was
easier to pass.
a. Illegal but Ethical
b. Legal but Unethical
c. Illegal and Unethical
d. Legal and Ethical
Three Types of Ethics or Morality

 Common Morality
 Personal Morality
 Professional Ethics
Code of Ethics
Code of Professional Responsibility
Code of Professional Conduct
The Engineering Profession
 How we view ourselves:
 Problem-solvers
 Engineering is enjoyable; esprit de corps
 Engineering benefits people, provides a
public service
 Engineering provides the most freedom of all
professions (Florman, 1976)
 Engineering is an honorable profession
The Engineering Profession

 How the public views engineering:

 The Engineer’s Role
 Engineers as Utilitarians
 Engineers as Positivists
 Applied Physical Scientists
 This role does not mesh well with an overarching
“social science” bias of the public.
 Rational, pragmatic, logical and systematic
approaches to problem solving tend to alienate the
engineer from the public
 What is Engineering Ethics*
 The study of the moral issues and
decisions confronting individuals and
organizations engaged in engineering
 The study of related questions about the
moral ideals, character, policies, and
relationships of people and corporations
involved in technological activity.

* from Martin. M. & Schinzinger, R. Ethics in Engineering (3rd Ed.) (New York: McGraw-Hill,
1996, pp. 2-3.
Ethics and Engineering
 Where the ethical issues can arise:
 Conceptualization, Design, Testing,
Manufacturing, Sales, Service
 Supervision and Project Teams
 Project timelines and budgets
 Expectations, opinions, or judgments

 Products: Unsafe or Less than Useful

 Designed for obsolescence
 Inferior materials or components

 Unforeseen harmful effects to society

Ethics and Engineering
 Other fields where ethics are critical
 Medical Ethics
 Legal Ethics
 Business Ethics (closest to Engineering Ethics)
 Scientific Ethics
 An “applied ethics” domain (rather than a theoretical
analysis of philosophy)
 Engineering occurs at the confluence of technology,
social science, and business
 Engineering is done by people and for people
 Engineers’ decisions have a impact on all three areas in the
confluence
 The public nature of an engineer’s work ensures that ethics will
always play a role
Ethics and Engineering
 Impacts of an engineer’s ethical decisions:
 The Products & Services (safety and utility)
 The Company and its Stockholders
 The Public and Society (benefits to the people)
 Environment (Earth and beyond)
 The Profession (how the public views it)
 The Law (how legislation affects the profession and industry)
 Personal Position (job, internal moral conflict)
 Typically, good ethical decisions…
 …may be just that: “good,” but rarely “great” or “ideal”
 …will not always be in the best interest (irrespective of the
timeline) of all stakeholders
 …are not automatic but require thought, consideration,
evaluation, and communication (much like the “design process”)