IND5172

Engineering Ethics
Introduction to Moral Thinking
Hadi Santono, ST., MT.
E-mail: hadi_santono@mail.uajy.ac.id
Topics
! Introduction : What is Morality ?
! Moral Theory
! Ethics and Morality
! Common Morality
! Personal Morality
! Professional Ethics
! Professionalism
! Moral Problem Solving
References
The information contained in this Powerpoint
lecture is excerpted and derived from:
Harris, C.E., Pritchard, M.S., and Rabins, M.J.,
1995, Engineering Ethics : Concepts and Cases,
Wadsworth Publishing Company, printed in United
States of America
Roland Schinzinger and Mike, 2009, Introduction to
Engineering Ethics, 2
nd
Edition
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
What is morality?
! Engineering ethics studies moral values in
engineering, but what are moral values? What is
morality?
! Morality is not easily encapsulated in a single
definition.
What is morality?
! Regarding the actions that should or should not
do, or what is right and wrong, or what is good or
bad
! THE INFLUENCE factors :
! Religion and Belief
! Legal and customary rules
! Personal interests
What is morality?
! Morality is about reasons centered in respect for
other people as well as for ourselves, reasons that
involve caring for their good as well as our own.
! Moral reasons, for instance, involve respecting
persons by being fair and just with them, respecting
their rights, keeping promises, avoiding unnecessary
offense and pain to them, and avoiding cheating and
dishonesty.
What is morality?
! Moral reasons also concern caring for others by
sometimes being willing to help them (especially
when they are in distress), showing gratitude for
favors, and empathizing with their suffering.
! In addition, moral reasons extend to concern for
minimizing suffering to animals and damage to the
environment.
Moral Problems
! It comes in a situation takes decisions based on
moral considerations. The only difficulty is how to
avoid the temptation to violate moral obligations.
MORAL DILEMMA
! Appears when two or more moral obligations, which
are "competing interests, and both can not
simultaneously be met.
! Moral values exist, so that we look good and the rights
of others. It can not be reduced merely to a private
interest, law or Religion and then led to the rejection of
Ethical Egoism [the view that the right action is the
best for themselves], Ethical conventionalism [The idea
that something is true provided that what is
commanded by the law and customary in the
community], Ethics commandments [the view that the
truth is that God commanded]
MORAL CONTEXT
! Respecting the fair and equitable manner.
! Respect for the rights of people
! Fulfilling the promise
! Avoid fraud, trustworthy
! Paying attention to what is already helping as a
thank you.
Moral Theory
Utilitarianism
! John Stuart Mill: The action that produces the greatest good for the
number of people
! Richard Brandt: The action that follows the rules, which if followed
would result in broadly the greatest good for the people.
The theory of liability
! Immanuel Kant: The act of following the principles of respecting the
autonomy and rationality of the people, and which are universally
applicable to all people desired.
! John Rawls: Following the principles of which will be approved by all
rational actors in a hypothetical situation of a contract that guarantees
no pro attitude
Moral Theory (contd)
Theory of Rights
! John Locke & A.I. Melden: Action is the best way to
respect the human rights of each affected action

Virtue Theory
! Aristotle and Alasdair MacIntyre: The action was
most fully embody or support the relevant virtues,
where virtues understood as being character traits
that enable the achievement of the social virtues
Correct
Good
Must
PERSONAL
INTEREST
LAW AND
TRADITIONAL
RULES
RELIGION
AND FAITH
Wrong
Bad
Mustnt
UTILITARIAN
ISM
THEORY OF
LIABILITY
THEORY OF
RIGHTS
VIRTUE
THEORY
ETHICS
MORAL THEORY
Ethics and Morality
Ethics and Morality
! Often, the terms ethics and morality are used
interchangeably.
! If there is a subtle difference between the two
terms, it is as follows:
! The term ethics is used with a more formalized
statement of moral precepts*, especially as these
precepts are stated in ethical codes. Thus, it is more
common to refer to professional ethics than
professional morality.
*a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action
Etiquette, Law, Moral, Ethics
! ETIQUETTE, rules of conduct and manners
! LAW, system of rules and penalties, which is
defined clearly
! MORAL, rules for conduct individual "right" and
"wrong
! ETHICS, rules agreed upon as the "discipline" of
moral conduct for specific communities.
Three Types of Ethics or
Morality
! Common Morality
! Personal Morality
! Professional Ethics
Three Types of Ethics or Morality
Common
Personal
Professional
Moral, which was agreed by most
people as a truth as honesty, hard work,
patience, respect, courtesy, do not steal


Moral, which are specifically agreed by
most people it like belief in religion,
culture, family customs

Moral, specifically agreed by the group
that a particular profession


Treatment
improve health by respecting patient autonomy
Law
social justice
Engineering
creation of useful and safe products with respect to the user (especially
in how to deal with risk)
Common Morality
! It is the set of moral beliefs shared by almost
everyone.
! It is the basis, or at least the reference point, for the
other two types of morality.
! When we think of ethics or morality, we usually
think of such precepts as that it is wrong to murder,
lie, cheat, steal, break promises, harm others
physically, and so forth.
Common Morality
Three characteristics describe common morality.
! First, many of the precepts of common morality are
negative. According to some moralists, common
morality is designed primarily to protect individuals
from various types of violations or invasions of their
personhood by others.
Common Morality
Three characteristics describe common morality.
! Second, although common morality on what we might
call the ground floor is primarily negative, it does
contain a positive or aspirational component in such
precepts as prevent killing, prevent deceit, prevent
cheating, etc. It might also include even more clearly
positive precepts, such as help the needy, promote
human happiness, and protect the natural
environment.
Common Morality
Three characteristics describe common morality.
! Third, common morality makes a distinction between an
evaluation of a persons actions and an evaluation of
his intention.
! An evaluation of action is based on an application of
the types of moral precepts mentioned, but an
evaluation of the person himself is based on intention.
Common Morality
Three characteristics describe common morality.
! For example, if a driver kills a pedestrian accidentally,
the driver may be charged with manslaughter (or
nothing), but not murder. The pedestrian is just as dead
as if he had been murdered, but the drivers intention
was not to kill him, and the law treats the driver
differently, as long as he was not reckless. The result is
the same, but the intent is different.
Common Morality
Three characteristics describe common morality.
! As another example, if you convey false information to
another person with the intent to deceive, you are lying.
If you convey the false information because you do not
know any better, you are not lying and not usually as
morally culpable. Again, the result is the same (the
person is misled), but the intent is different.
Personal Morality
Personal ethics or personal morality is the set of
moral beliefs that a person holds.
! For most of us, our personal moral beliefs closely
parallel the precepts of common morality. We believe
that murder, lying, cheating and stealing are wrong.
Personal Morality
Personal ethics or personal morality is the set of moral
beliefs that a person holds.
! However, our personal moral beliefs may differ from common
morality in some areas.
! Thus, we may oppose stem cell research, even though
common morality may not be clear on the issue.
! Common morality may be unclear at least partially because
the issue did not arise until scientific advancement made
stem cell research possible and ordinary people have yet to
identify decisive arguments.
Professional Ethics
! It is the set of standards adopted by professionals
insofar as they view themselves acting as
professionals.
! Every profession has its professional ethics:
medicine, law, architecture, pharmacy, etc.
! Engineering ethics is that set of ethical standards
that applies to the profession of engineering.
Professional Ethics
There are several important characteristics of
professional ethics.
! First, professional ethics is usually stated in a formal
code. Thus, professional societies usually have codes of
ethics, referred to as code of professional
responsibility, code of professional conduct, and the
like.
Professional Ethics
There are several important characteristics of
professional ethics.
! Second, the professional codes of ethics of a given
profession focus on the issues that are important in that
profession.
! Third, when one is in a professional relationship,
professional ethics is supposed to take precedence over
personal morality at least ordinarily.
Professional Ethics
A complication occurs when the professionals personal
morality and professional ethics conflict.
! For example, some pharmacists in the US object to filling
prescriptions for contraceptives for unmarried women
because of their moral beliefs hold that sex outside of
marriage is wrong.
! The code of the American Pharmaceutical Association
makes no provision for refusing to fill a prescription on the
basis of an objection from ones personal moral beliefs.
Professional Ethics
A complication occurs when the professionals personal
morality and professional ethics conflict.
! In fact, the code of the American Pharmaceutical
Association mandates honoring the autonomy of the client.
! Nevertheless, some pharmacists have put their personal
morality ahead of their professional obligations.
Professional Ethics
There are several important characteristics of
professional ethics.
! Fourth, professional ethics sometimes differs from
personal morality in its degree of restriction of personal
conduct.
! Sometimes, professional ethics is more restrictive than
personal morality, and sometimes it is less restrictive.
Professional Ethics
Suppose engineer Joe refuses to design military
hardware because he believes war is immoral.
Engineering codes do not prohibit engineers from
designing military hardware, so this refusal is based
on personal ethics and not on professional ethics.
Here, Joes personal ethics is more restrictive than
her professional ethics.
Professional Ethics
On the other hand, suppose civil engineer Jack
refuses to participate in the design of a project
that he believes will be contrary to the
principles of sustainable development, which
are set out in the code of the American Society
of Civil Engineers. He may not personally
believe these guidelines are correct, but he
might (correctly) believe he is obligated to
follow them in his professional work because
they are stated in the code of ethics. In this
case, Jacks professional ethics is more
restrictive than his personal ethics.
Professional Ethics
There are several important characteristics of
professional ethics.
! Fifth, professional ethics, like ethics in general, has a
negative and a positive dimension.
! Indeed, being ethical has two aspects:
! preventing and avoiding evil (the negative face)
! doing or promoting good (the positive face)
Professional Ethics
! Professionals have both an obligation not to harm
their clients, patients, and employers, and an
obligation to contribute to their well-being.
! The negative aspect of professional ethics is
oriented toward the prevention of professional
malpractice and harm to the public. This can be
called preventive ethics.
Professional Ethics
! Professionals also have an obligation to use their
knowledge and expertise to promote the public
good.
! This may be referred to as aspirational ethics
because it encourages aspirations or ideals in
professionals to promote the welfare of the public.
Professional Ethics
Professional ethics has a number of distinct
characteristics, many of which serve to differentiate
it from personal ethics and common morality.
! It is usually stated (in part) in a code of ethics.
! It focuses on issues that are important in a given
profession.
! It often takes precedence over personal morality when a
professional is in his professional capacity.
Professional Ethics
Professional ethics has a number of distinct
characteristics, many of which serve to differentiate
it from personal ethics and common morality.
! It sometimes differs from personal morality in its
degree of restriction of personal conduct.
Professional Ethics
Professional ethics can be usefully divided into
! those precepts that aim at preventing professional
misconduct and engineering disasters (preventive
ethics), and
! those positive ideals oriented toward producing a better
life for humankind through technology (aspirational
ethics).
Engineering Ethics
! Engineering ethics refers to professional ethics,
not ones professional ethics or what is often
called common morality.
! To fully appreciate professional ethics, we must
define what is meant by a profession.
Engineering as a Profession
! We have been speaking of engineering as a profession,
but what exactly is a profession?
! In a broad sense, a profession is any occupation that
provides a means by which to earn a living.
! In a narrower sense, professions are those forms of
work involving advanced expertise, self-regulation, and
concerted service to the public good.
Advanced Expertise
Professions require sophisticated skills (knowing-
how) and theoretical knowledge (knowing-why) in
exercising judgment that is not entirely routine or
susceptible to mechanization.
Advanced Expertise
Preparation to engage in the work typically
requires extensive formal education, including
technical studies in one or more areas of
systematic knowledge as well as some broader
studies in the liberal arts (humanities, sciences,
arts). Generally, continuing education and
updating knowledge are also required.
Self-Regulation
! Well-established societies of professionals are allowed
by the public to play a major role in setting standards
for admission to the profession, drafting codes of
ethics, enforcing standards of conduct, and
representing the profession before the public and the
government.
! Often, this is referred to as the autonomy of the
profession, which forms the basis for individual
professionals to exercise autonomous professional
judgment in their work.
Public Good
! The occupation serves some important public good, or
aspect of public good, and it does so by making a
concerted effort to maintain high ethical standards
throughout the profession.
! For example, medicine is directed toward promoting
health, law toward protecting the publics legal rights,
and engineering toward technological solutions to
problems concerning the publics well-being, safety,
and health.
Are professionals elitists?
! Some critics argue that the attempt to distinguish
professions from other forms of work is an elitist
attempt to elevate the prestige and income of certain
group of workers.
! Innumerable forms of work contribute to the public
good, even though they do not require advanced
expertise: for example, hair cutting, garbage
collection, professional sports, etc.
Are professionals elitists?
! However, professionalism should not be primarily
about social status.
! The concerted efforts to maintain high standards of
moral responsibility, together with a sophisticated level
of required skill and the requisite autonomy to do so,
warrants the recognition traditionally associated with
the word profession.
! With great privilege comes great responsibility.
Professionalism
Running through various accounts of
professionalism is the idea that ethical
commitment, or at least a claim to it, is crucial to
a claim to be a professional.
! This means that professional ethics is central to the
idea of professionalism.
The Negative Face of Engineering
Ethics: Preventive Ethics
Preventive ethics is commonly formulated in rules,
and these rules are usually stated in codes of
ethics.
! These codes of ethics are primarily sets of rules, and
these rules are for the most part negative in character.
! The rules are often in the form of prohibitions, or
statements that probably should be understood
primarily as prohibitions.
Why so negative?
First, common sense and common morality
support the idea that the first duty of moral
agents, including professionals, is not to harm
others not to murder, lie, cheat, or steal, for
example.
! Before engineers have an obligation to do good, they
have an obligation to do no harm.
Why so negative?
Second, the codes are formulated in terms of rules
that can be enforced, and it is easier to enforce
negative rules than positive rules.
! A rule that states avoid undisclosed conflicts of
interest is relatively easy to enforce, in comparison
with a rule that states hold paramount the welfare of
the public.
Why so negative?
Third, the negative orientation of engineering
ethics is the influence of what are often called
disaster cases, which are incidents that results,
or could have resulted, in loss of life or harm due
to technology.
The Positive Face of Engineering:
Aspirational Ethics
Engineers do not choose engineering as a career in
order to prevent disasters and avoid professional
misconduct.
! To be sure, many engineering students desire the
financial rewards and social position that an
engineering career promises, and this is legitimate.
The Positive Face of Engineering:
Aspirational Ethics
Engineering students are also attracted by the
prospect of making a difference in the world, and
doing so in a positive way.
! They are excited by projects that alleviate human drudgery
through labor-saving devices, eliminate disease by
providing clean water and sanitation, develop new medical
devices that save lives, create automobiles that run on less
fuel and are less polluting, and preserve the environment
with recyclable products.
The Positive Face of Engineering:
Aspirational Ethics
Personal commitments to ideals can add an
important new and positive dimension to
engineering ethics.
The Positive Face of Engineering:
Aspirational Ethics
In elaborating on aspirational ethics, one can think
of those professional qualities that enable one to be
more effective in promoting human welfare.
The Positive Face of Engineering:
Aspirational Ethics
Promoting the welfare of the public can be done in
many different ways, as for instance,
! designing a new energy-saving device in the course of
ones ordinary employment, or
! using ones vacation time to design and help install a
water purification system in an underdeveloped country.
The Positive Face of Engineering:
Aspirational Ethics
! Let us call the more extreme and altruistic examples
of aspirational ethics as good works and the more
ordinary and mundane examples as ordinary
positive engineering.
! Although the division between the two is not always
sharp, the distinction is useful.
Good Works
These refer to the more outstanding and altruistic
examples of aspirational ethics those that often
involve an element of self-sacrifice.
! Good works are exemplary actions and commendable
conduct that go beyond the basic requirements
associated with a particular social role and beyond
what is professionally required.
Good Works Example
Engineering students from the University of
Arizona chapter of Engineers Without Borders are
working on a water supply and purification project
in the village of Mafi Zongo, Ghana, West Africa.
The project will supply 30 or more villages, with
approximately 10,000 people, with safe drinking
water.
Ordinary Positive
Engineering
Most examples of aspirational ethics do not all
into the category of good works.
! They are done in the course of ones job, and they do
not involve any heroism or self-sacrifice.
! Specifically, they consist of actions that usually involve
a more conscious and creative attempt to do something
that contributes to human welfare.
Ordinary Positive Engineering
Example
Students in a senior design course at Texas A&M
University (TAMU) decided to build an auditory visual
tracker for use in evaluating the training of visual skills
in children with disabilities. The engineering students
met the children for whom the equipment was being
designed, and this encounter motivated the students
that they worked overtime to complete the project. At
the end of the project, they got to see the children use
the tracker.
Aspirational Ethics and Professional
Character: The Good Engineer
Two features of aspirational ethics are important:
! First, the more positive aspect of engineering ethics
has a motivational element that is not present in the
same way in preventive ethics.
! Second, there is a discretionary element in
aspirational ethics: an engineer has a considerable
degree of freedom in how he or she promotes public
welfare.
Aspirational Ethics and Professional
Character: The Good Engineer
In aspirational ethics, instead of asking what kind
of rules are important in directing the more
positive and aspirational elements of engineering
work?, one would ponder, what type of person,
professionally speaking, will be most likely to
promote the welfare of the public through his or
her engineering work?
Aspirational Ethics and Professional
Character: The Good Engineer
! Let us use the term professional character to
refer to those character traits that serve to define
the kind of person one is, professionally speaking.
! The good engineer is the engineer who has those
traits of professional character that make him or
her the best or ideal engineer.
Aspirational Ethics and Professional
Character: The Good Engineer
Furthermore, let us use the term professional
character portrait to refer to the set of character
traits that would make an engineer a good
engineer, and especially an effective practitioner of
aspirational ethics.
Professional Character Portrait
of a Good Engineer
! Professional Pride
! Social awareness
! Environmental consciousness
Professional Pride
! This refers in particular to pride in technical
excellence.
! If an engineer wants his/her work as a professional
to contribute to public welfare, the first thing he/she
must do is to be sure that her professional expertise
is at the highest possible level.
Professional Pride
Professional expertise in engineering includes not
only the obvious proficiencies in mathematics,
physics, and engineering science, but also those
capacities and sensitivities that only come with a
certain level of experience.
Social Awareness
This refers to an awareness of the way in which
technology both affects (influences) and is affected
(influenced) by the larger social environment.
! For example, technology can be used by grassroots
movements, like what protesters do in China and
bloggers do in the United States.
! On the other hand, the desire by the elite, for instance,
to deskill labor drives the introduction of automation
technology.
Social Awareness
! In any case, engineers are often called on to make
design decisions that are not socially neutral.
! This often requires sensitivities and commitments that
cannot be incorporated into rules.
! Thus, social awareness is an important aspect of a
professional character that will take seriously the
obligation to promote public welfare through
professional work.
Environmental Consciousness
! Environmental issues will increasingly play a
crucial role in almost all aspects of engineering.
! Human welfare will be seen as integral to
preserving the integrity of the natural environment
that supports human and all other forms of life.
Define The Problem
Get the Facts
Perspective from Various Angles
Formulate Some Opinions
Determine Recommendations
Moral Problem Solving
End of Presentation