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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
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and
recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The branch of philosophy axiology comprises the sub-
branches of ethics and aesthetics, each concerned with values.
7. Natural law ethics is based on natural law, which can be discovered by reason. i.e. by empirical analysis
of phenomena.
8. Religious ethical ideals, as found in Judaism and Christianity, include two major views:
(a) The will of God is sufficient justification to obey traditional maxims, and
(b) The love of God inspires people to do the best to live as caring individuals – based on religious
teachings.
Situation Ethics
According to Joseph Fletcher, the doctrine contending that truly moral actions produce the greatest amount of
love possible in each situation; love is the only moral absolute. A version of teleological ethics.
Teleological Ethics
The theory that the consequences of a moral act determine its rightness or wrongness.
Utilitarianism
An ethical theory that claims that utility, in the sense that whatever increases pleasure and decreases pain,
should be the aim of acts and the criterion by which we judge them.
Benevolence
It is the active pursuit of the enormous value that we can get from relationships with other people.
Benevolence, as a major virtue, is key to living by the trader principle. i.e. trade creates enormous value, both
material and non-material. Benevolence is the commitment to create trade and trading opportunities.
Courage
Courage is the ability to act in the face of danger and uncertainty. Although it is more of an emotion or state of
mind, it is an important part of one’s life. This is because the future is always uncertain.
Life is not just about avoiding death. It is about achieving values and happiness. Courage must overcome
both the fear of danger and uncertainty.
Duties
Duties can be positive, such as the duty to look after one’s children, or negative, such as the duty not to
murder another human being. When people use the language of duties, they usually do so in a way that
implies that the duty is universal to all human beings (or at least to all adult humans of sound mind).
We should treat people as an end, never as a means to an end. This means that people should be treated
with dignity.
Deontological Ethics
It refers to theories which hold that right and wrong is determined by truth and binding, formal rules of
conduct, independently of any consideration of consequences.
Descriptive Ethics
The study of the ingredients of a moral situation, of the actual conduct of individuals, groups, and peoples.
Epicureanism
The doctrine that pleasure (as understood by Epicurus) or freedom from pain is the highest good in life.
Ethical Monotheism
The belief in one God who has revealed moral standards which all must follow.
Ethical Relativism
The view that there are no fixed, universal moral values; also called moral relativism.
Ethical Standards
Principles or norms by which moral actions are judged right or wrong.
Free Will
Every existent acts causally in accordance with its identity from electrons to brain neurons to conscious
minds. The world is entirely determined in a physical sense, but the question of free will boils down to a
question of context.
Formalism
Adherence to prescribed forms. In ethics, formalism means that certain types of acts follow fixed moral
principles, apart from consideration of any particular situation or probable consequences.
Fundamental Values
Indians have developed four fundamental values about human life, which they have been practicing
throughout the ages:
(a) Essential divinity inherent in all life
(b) Presence of divine motherhood in all women
(c) Religion is the manifestation of the divinity already in man. The plurality of religion is only on the
surface. At the spiritual core, there is an essential unity of all of them.
(d) Civilization is the manifestation of divinity in human. That society is the most developed where the
highest truths becomes practical.
Hedonism
The doctrine that the chief good in life is pleasure.
Honesty
Honesty is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor
fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud.
Harmony of Interests
The harmony of interests bring men together in peaceful cooperation to benefit their lives. This is the bedrock
of society. It is why people choose to live in a society.
Although the desires of men may be opposed, their interests are not. Living in a peaceful society is of
incalculable benefit to man.
Integrity
Integrity is the virtue of practicing what one preaches. Or more importantly, practicing what one believes is
right. A ‘man of principle’ is not a man who understands a principle, but a man who understands, accepts, and
lives by a principle. There are many reasons why integrity is a virtue.
Independence
Independence, or self-reliance is the virtue by which you are self-supporting in the sense that you consume
nothing that you haven’t earned. The virtue of independence is to provide one’s own means of subsistence.
This means either producing it directly, or indirectly by creating something that someone else wants.
Dependence, in this case, would mean relying on charity or favors from friends or family. Or worse, theft in the
form of direct stealing from others, or indirect theft through benefits by government.
Justice
Justice is the virtue of treating people in accordance with their actions. It is applying the law of identity to
people. All people are not equal. Some are good and some are evil and they must be treated accordingly.
Acting justly requires the willingness to judge.
Living Peacefully
When there is peace in the individual, there will be peace in the family. In order to learn how to lead a
peaceful living, self-esteem, calmness and freedom from anxieties are must otherwise; consequence is
generally found to be negative.
Means
An agency, instrument, or method used to attain an end.
Meta ethics
The study of the meaning of terms and language used in ethical discourse and the kind of reasoning used to
justify ethical statements. Differs from normative ethics, which is the study of the principles underlying the
moral forms of human conduct.
Moral agent
The individual who is participating in a moral situation.
Moral ought
Used to express duty or moral obligation.
Motive
Whatever it is that prompts a person to act in a certain way or that determines volition (willing).
Moral Judgements
1. The question of morality may be the central issue of our time; there is a renewed interest in rethinking
goals and values in contemporary society.
2. Kohlberg’s levels of moral development are the preconventional, conventional, and post conventional.
Normative Ethics
In normative ethics there are different theories as to how criteria of moral conduct should be defined. The
three main theories can be sketched as follows:
1. Deontological, i.e. duty theories locate the basis of morality on specific, foundational principles of duty
and obligation. These principles are binding regardless of the consequences that acting on their basis
might bring.
2. Consequentialist theories on the other hand determine the value of an action on the grounds of a cost-
benefit analysis of its consequences. If the positive consequences outweigh the negative ones then the
action is morally proper.
3. Virtue theories focus on a given set of rules like “do not steal” etc. But instead of defining them merely
as obligatory duties, the emphasis lies on the individual to develop good habits of character based on
these rules (and avoid vices). Thus virtue theory emphasizes moral education.
Productiveness
Productiveness is the virtue of achieving values. It is the fullest use of one’s mind in seeking and achieving
those values. Its primary use is in the creation of wealth.
Pride
Pride is the virtue of respecting oneself. It is a human need to think highly of oneself. Without it, one would
have no reason to trust one’s ability to live. One would have no reason to accept that one’s life is worthy of
living. Pride is often confused with arrogance.
Rationality
Rationality is the habit of acting by reason, which means in accordance with the facts of reality. The only
alternative is acting by whim, which because reality is absolute, will result in undesired consequences. This is
because an action based on a belief in a particular cause-effect relationship will not occur if that relationship is
invalid.
Rights
Rights theory is one particular duty-based theory of ethics. A right is a justified claim against another person’s
behaviour. So rights and duties are related in that the rights of one person imply the duty of someone else to
uphold that right.
Self-Interest
Man’s interest is defined as that which benefits his life. It is an evaluation of the facts of reality. Since the
nature of man’s life has particular, objective requirements, determining whether something promotes his life is
a statement of fact. One’s interests should not be confused with one’s desires.
Universal Values
There are five systems values or virtues that come from these. They contain all that makes a human being
noble, caring and kind.
(a) Right conduct: Right conduct is concerned with maintenance of the body to serve us in performing the
tasks of life.
(b) Peace: Strong will power is sufficiently strong to discern the differences between real needs and super-
fluous desires; we cease to be driven by the urge to own more and more things. Inner agitation stops
and we remain peaceful.
(c) Non-violence: Non-violence can be described as an act to restrain from violence. It sign of a well-
integrated and well-balanced personality.
(d) Truth: Learning to speak the truth is a first and vital step in the formation of a strong character. Telling
lies hurts ourselves and others in a subtle but real way.
(e) Love: Love is a spontaneous reaction of the heart. It is the power of love which causes one person to
wish happiness for another and take pleasure in his or her well-being.
Values
Values are that which we seek to achieve or maintain. Values are the motive power behind purposeful
action. They are the ends to which we act. Without them, life would be impossible. Life requires self-
generated action to sustain itself. Without values, one could not act, and death would follow.
Virtue
A virtue is a moral habit which generally results in the gaining or maintaining of your values. Your values are
based on your moral standard which should be your own life. Virtues are pre-thought out methods for
achieving your values. This means that with rational virtues, acting virtuous leads to a happy and successful
life.
Vice
Vice is a practice, behaviour or habit of an individual which is generally not accepted in associated society.
This is generally considered as sinful, immoral, rude, taboo, deprived, criminal activities and degrading
activities
Work Ethics
Organizational environment should foster ethical decision making by institutionalizing ethics. This means
applying ethical concepts in daily action.
“Ethics” or “morals”
Means those habits or customs that are standards of good conduct or character.
Ethics is a discipline we freely embrace that regulates our baser instincts so as to promote a harmonious
community and thereby reduce conflict and disorder.
Immanuel Kant distinguished that in law, a man is guilty when he violates the rights of another. In ethics, he is
guilty if he thinks of doing so.
Scope of ethics
The scope covers the questions of where duties are owed and in what circumstances they arise.
A different aspect of the gap between legal and ethical duties concerns the engineer’s duty to act with
reasonable skill and care. Such a duty is required necessity to the immediate client, but how is the duty to be
extended to cover the public at large? It is easy to envisage circumstances in which engineering projects and
the actions of engineers may be seen as adversely affecting the public interest.
Meta-ethics: Meta-ethics is therefore concerned with the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes
and judgments. Meta-ethics examines such themes as what moral questions mean, and on what basis people
can know what is ‘true’ or ‘false’.
Normative ethics: Normative ethics is concerned with questions of what people ought to do, and on how
people can decide what the ‘correct’ moral actions to take are.
Applied ethics: it is concerned with the philosophical examination of particular – and often complex – issues
that involve moral judgments.
Virtue-Ethics Framework
Virtues are good habits that are acquired by repetition which must follow the rule of right reason (prudence).
Engineering in Practice
Ethical principles should influence much of the day-to-day functions and activities of engineers, as is the case
in many professions.
Ethical egoism advocates that self interest is the exclusive obligation, the duty of man. In other words, our
only duty is to promote our own interests.
In 1992, governments at the Rio Earth Summit made a historic commitment to sustainable development that
promotes the maintenance and wellbeing of both people and ecosystems.
Ethics
Ethics is often used in connection with the activities of organizations and with professional codes of conduct:
for instance, medical and business ethics, which are often formalized in terms of exhaustive sets of rules or
guidelines stating how employees are expected to behave in their workplaces (such as in respect of a duty of
care or confidentiality that health-care workers owe to their patients; or the medical ethical principles of
beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy, and justice).
Morality
Morality, on the other hand, is more often used in connection with the ways in which individuals conduct their
personal, private lives, often in relation to personal financial probity, lawful conduct and acceptable standards
of interpersonal behaviour (including truthfulness, honesty, and sexual propriety).
It restricts their personal discretion in decision making
Though codes serves the purpose to an extent the real life situations are different and more complex. Many
technical decisions may not be ethical and moral in themselves.
Engineering Ethics
Engineering ethics is the set of rules and standards of conduct, which defines the role and responsibilities of
engineers. It is a philosophical framework, which provides the basis for the conduct and public behaviour of
engineering professionals.
Experiential Learning
Engineering as a Social Experiment
Engineers as leaders and administrators
Being Accountable
2. Risk
Minimizing risk is often easier said than done. There are many things that make this a difficult task for the
engineer. For example, the design engineer often must deal in uncertainties.
1. To accept responsibility in making decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public,
and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;
2. To avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to affected
parties when they do exist;
3. To be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data;
4. To reject bribery in all its forms;
5. To improve the understanding of technology, its appropriate application, and potential consequences;
6. To maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake technological tasks for others only
if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations;
7. To seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and correct errors, and to
credit properly the contributions of others;
8. To treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age, or national
origin;
9. To avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious action;
10. To assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in following
this code of ethics.
Approved by the IEEE Board of Directors, February 2006
I. Fundamental Canons
9. Engineers shall give credit for engineering work to those to whom credit is due and will recognize the
proprietary interests of others.
What is Value?
Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should or shouldn’t, and good or
bad.
Values mean an in-built mechanism that distinguishes the right from the wrong. This should be interpreted in
the context of the social environment in which a person lives, moves and acts.
Universal Values
There are five systems values or virtues that come from these. They contain all that makes a human being
noble, caring and kind.
Right conduct: Right conduct is concerned with maintenance of the body to serve us in performing the tasks
of life.
Peace: When the will power is sufficiently strong to discern the differences between real needs and
superfluous desires, we cease to be driven by the urge to own more and more things. Inner agitation stops
and we remain peaceful.
Truth: Learning to speak the truth is a first and vital step in the formation of a strong character. Voicing untruth
is an anti-social act and causes confusion in the minds of both the speaker and listener. Telling lies hurts
ourselves and others in a subtle but real way.
Love: Love is a spontaneous reaction of the heart. It is the power of love which causes one person to wish
happiness for another and take pleasure in his or her well-being. Love is unconditional, positive and regard for
the good of another. Love is the unseen undercurrent binding all the four values.
Non-violence: Non-violence can be described as a universal love. This creates harmony with the
environment. That is living in a way that causes as little harm as possible to one-self, other people, animals,
plants is a sign of a well-integrated and well-balanced personality.
Fundamental Values
Indians have developed four fundamental values about human life, which they have been practicing
throughout the ages:
Attitude
Attitude encompasses long-standing evaluations of people, places, and ideas, and may influence a range of
behaviors, including those that directly impact political behaviour, intergroup relations, and health behaviors,
among other consequences.
Since in Indian society children are very close to their parents and grandparents so many a times, they
acquire behavior from the parents.
Aptitude
An aptitude is a component of a competency to do certain kind of work at a certain level, which can also be
considered “talent”. It is the ability to deal with aspects of the environment and to perform a particular
behavior. Aptitudes may be physical or mental.
Attitude has to do with the character and aptitude has to do with competence. Character is relatively
permanent whereas aptitude can be changed and developed.
Integrity
Integrity indicates soundness of moral principles, the character of uncorrupted virtues, uprightness, honesty
and sincerity. According to Ministry of Personnel, “Consistently behaves in an open, fair and transparent
manner, honours one’s commitments and works to uphold the Public service values.” Integrity in public affairs
and administration is essential; and therefore there must be an insistence on it in every branch of public
activity.
Intellectual integrity: Intellectual integrity is defined as recognition of the need to be true to one’s own
thinking and to hold oneself to the same standards one expects others to meet. It also means to honestly
admit discrepancies and inconsistencies in one’s own thought and action, and to be able to identify
inconsistencies in one’s own thinking.
Perception
Perception is defined as our recognition and interpretation of sensory information. It is a process of taking the
sensory input from the environment and using the information in order to interact with our environment.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and people’s emotions, to discriminate between
different emotions and label them appropriately and to use emotional information to guide thinking and
behavior.
Types of Emotions
There are five types of emotions according to the researchers. These emotions are transmitted to the next
generation through reproduction.
These are conception, sensations, and reflexes, involuntary and voluntary expressions.
1. Conception is the positive and negative mental effects that are triggered by conclusion. Conception directs
your behavior. Maternal love is positive emotion, whereas maternal grief is a negative one triggered by
conclusion like my child is in problem.
Conception Emotions like: maternal love & grief, infatuation, heartbreak jealousy, adulterous guild revenge,
criminal guilt compassion, selfish, guilt, pride, humiliation, humor, envy
2. Sensation also can fall under both the categories of positive and negative emotion. It directs the behavior
but triggers no physical effects.
Sensation Emotions like: Pleasing taste, hunger, disgust usual pleasure, lust, repugnance affection, cute,
loneliness excitement, boredom
3. Reflexes trigger a mental effect that suppresses conception and sensations. Reflexes are the only
emotions that trigger mental effect.
Reflexes Emotions like Startle fear
4. Involuntary expressions also direct behavior of others and are triggered by conception, sensation and
reflex.
Involuntary Emotions like: horror, momentary, frowning, prolonged frowning, momentary smiling, crying,
prolonged smiling, blushing
5. Voluntary expression also direct behavior of others and are triggered by conception, sensation and reflex.
Voluntary expressions also direct behavior of others and triggered by habitual decision.
Social Capital
Human capital is invested in people and social capital is investment in relationship. When public
administration invests in social capital in return the govt is always benefitted with good amount which is in the
form of trust.
A manager’s major job is sound/rational decision-making. He takes hundreds of decisions consciously and
subconsciously.
Decision-making is the key part of manager’s activities. Decisions are important as they determine both
managerial and organizational actions.
A decision may be defined as “a course of action which is consciously chosen from among a set of
alternatives to achieve a desired result.”
What is Probity?
Probity is a mandatory and vital organ of governance. An important prerequisite for the probity is absence of
corruption.
Disadvantage: A full switch to Govt. to Customer e-Governance will cost a large amount of money in
development and implementation. In addition, Govt. agencies do not always engage citizens in the
development of their e-Gov services or accept feedback.
Programme Approach at the National and State levels: Facilitator role of DEITY:
Corruption
Corruption is the abuse of bestowed power or position to acquire a personal benefit. Corruption includes may
activities like bribery and embezzlement. Corruption is in close proximity with the development of the nation.
Causes of Corruption
Lack of power to the judicial system: Lack of Hard and fast rules:
Modes of Corruption
1. Bribes
2. Conflict of Interest
3. Nepotism
4. Patronage
5. Procurement
All India Services (Discipline and appeal) Rules (1969) Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964
Railway Servants (Conduct) Rules, 1966
Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965 All India Services (Conduct) Rules
(1968)
Globalization
In recent years there have been global summits on topics such as:
1. The Environment, 1992
2. Human Rights, 1993
3. Population, 1994
4. Social Development, 1995
5. Women, 1996
Western Moral Thinkers:
Socrates (469-399 BC)
Socrates, was a Greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a profound influence on
ancient and modern philosophy. Although Socrates himself wrote nothing, he is depicted in conversation in
compositions by a small circle of his admirers—Plato and Xenophon first among them. He is portrayed in
these works as a man of great insight, integrity, self-mastery, and argumentative skill.
While Socrates was alive, he was, as noted, the object of comic ridicule, but most of the plays that make
reference to him are entirely lost or exist only in fragmentary form—Clouds being the chief exception.
Socrates was anti-sophist.
“Sophists” was a philosophical school in the Greek society.
They promoted a corrupted society, namesake democracy, might is right, full of moral corruption.
So, Socrates promoted ideas of Moral virtues against ideas of Sophism. Subsequently, he fell out from
the eyes of the government.