professional imagination, judgment, integrity, and intellectual discipline in the application of science, technology, mathematics, and practical experience to design, produce, and operate useful objects or processes that meet the needs and desires of a client.
Today engineering is seen as a profession
which refers specifically to fields that require extensive study and mastery of specialized knowledge and a voluntary and abiding commitment to a code of conduct which prescribes ethical behaviour.
The academic discipline of ethics, also
called moral philosophy, involves arranging, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behaviour.
three general subject areas:
In engineering, codes of conduct, developed to
regulate the behaviour of the practicing engineer, ----------examples of normative ethics
Theories of normative ethics
Virtue ethics Virtue - habit or disposition to perform the right action under given circumstances
Less emphasis on learning rules, and instead stresses
the importance of developing good habits of character.
Duty theories - Foundational principles of obligation
Fidelity: the duty to keep promises.
Reparation: the duty to compensate others when we harm them. Gratitude: the duty to thank those who help us. Justice: the duty to recognize merit. Beneficence: the duty to improve the conditions of others. Self-improvement: the duty to improve our virtue and intelligence. Non-maleficence: the duty to not injure others.
Consequentialist theories
- a kind of cost-benefits analysis to ultimately decide whether or not an
action is ethical or unethical.
- requires that counting or estimating both the good and bad
consequences of an action
Three subdivisions
Ethical Egoism: an action is morally right if the consequences of that
action are more favourable than unfavourable only to the agent performing the action. Ethical Altruism: an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favourable than unfavourable to everyone except the agent. Utilitarianism: an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favourable than unfavourable to everyone.
The very first canon cautions engineers in the
fulfilment of their professional duties, to hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public. -----National Society for Professional Engineers (NSPE)
accept responsibility in making engineering
decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment. ---- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)