UNIT-1

Concept of Values and Ethics, Purpose,

Utilitarianism, Duties, Rights and
Responsibilities, Virtue, Honesty, Moral
Autonomy, Obligations of Engineering and
Moral Property
 Values
• Principles or standards of behaviour.

• One’s judgement of what is right and what is wrong.

• Root: Latin- Valere meaning “Worth”. It can be defined as

appropriate course of action. Values reflect a person’s sense of right
and wrong or what ought to be. Values tend to influence attitude
and behavior.
Value formation Period
•Imprint Period: 0-7 Years (Tabula Rasa)
•Modelling Period: 8-13 Years
•Socialization Period: 13-21 Years
 Culture
Culture is (a concept): a of set of common
values/ behaviour pattern, shared by the
members of the same society:
• social expectations
• collective understandings of the good, beautiful
and constructive.
• Every culture develops certain values, which
the members of the society broadly share.
 Ethics- Ethos
It is also known as moral philosophy. It involves systemizing,
defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct.
The term has derived from the Greek word meaning “Ethos” meaning
character (Characteristic features of a community/ culture). Ethics
study the moral behavior in human beings and how one should act. It
may be divided into four categories:
Meta Ethics: Theory
Normative : Action
Applied: Outcome
Descriptive: How others see it
Ethics –Immanuel Kant (German Philosopher)
• Act in the morally right way
• Act from Duty
• It is not the Consequences of Actions that make
them right or wrong but the motives of the
person, who carries out the action
Ethics: It is a stand-alone concept. It is a set of
principles that guide us in determining what
behaviour helps or harm sentient creature. (Richard
Paul and Linda Elder)
Utilitarianism: The moral worth of an action is
determined only by its outcome. The doctrine says
that the action is right if the outcome is useful for the
benefit of majority. The action is right in so far as it
promotes happiness (the greatest happiness of the
greatest number of people in the society)
Classification of Ethics:
• Meta: Deals with the theoretical meaning and
moral propositions and their truth values.
• Applied : How moral outcomes can be achieved
in specific situation
• Normative: Practical means of determining a
moral course of action
• Descriptive: The study of people’s beliefs about
morality
Duty
DutyDue Owing Latin Debere Debt
It conveys a sense of moral commitment or
obligation to someone or something. The moral
commitment should result in action. It is not a
passive feeling or mere recognition. Duty and its
manifestation vary from culture to culture.
Civic Duty
•Examples:
•Rushing to aid the victim of accident
•Returning books borrowed from the Library
•Paying Taxes
•Reading News
•Not to waste public property
 Rights
• Rights are legal, social or ethical principles of freedom or
entitlement. Rights are fundamental to Civilization. (Pillars of the
Society)
• Right to Live
• Right to Vote
• Right to Choose
Fundamental Rights as expresses as a Charter in Constitution
Right to Freedom, Right to Equality, Right to Education, Right to
Freedom of Religion, Right against Exploitation, Right to Information,
Right to Constitutional Remedies, Right to Elementary Education,
Right to Culture
Legal Rights and Natural Rights
Legal Rights are Natural Rights are
based on a society’s Universal. They apply
customs , Laws and to all people. Human
Statutes. Legal Rights beings have a natural
are known as Civil right to Live
Rights
 Virtue
• Virtue is Moral Excellence
• It is a positive trait or quality deemed to be morally
good.
• Personal Virtues promote Collective Virtues
 Honesty and Moral Autonomy
• It refers to Positive and • The Quality or Condition of
Virtuous attributes such as being autonomous.
Integrity, Truthfulness and • Ability to choose right over
Straight forwardness. wrong
• The Quality or Condition to • It is the basis of
be honest. determining moral
responsibility
 Moral Proprieties
• The quality of “being Proper”
• The standard behaviour, which is considered to be correct
for the society
• Socially Acceptable behaviour
• Synonym: Decorum, Modesty, Courtesy, Decency
• Antonym: Indecency, Rudeness, Impropriety
Usage: She showed exemplary propriety at the dinner table
because of her upbringing.
 Moral obligation of an Engineer
• Moral/Ethical Obligations are necessary for
Engineers in order to carry out their profession.
• Engineers should not misrepresent their Areas or
Levels of Competence/ Experience.
• Must give priority to Public Safety
• Must accept personal responsibility for work done
• Must ensure that reasonable steps are taken to
minimize the risk/loss of life/injury
 Unit-II
Engineer’s Moral responsibility for Safety, Risk
Assessment, Product Liability, whistle Blowing-Its
Moral Justification, Consumer Protection, Quality
Control, PSU, Warranty
 Risk Assessment
It is a process of determining the Qualitative or Quantitative
value of risk related to a concrete situation.
RA consists of an objective evaluation of risk in which
assumptions and uncertainties are clearly considered and
presented. Difficulty lies in the measurement of quantities in
which RA is concerned: Difficult to measure potential loss
and probability of occurrence. The chance of error is high in
measuring these two concepts.
• RA= L & P (the magnitude of Potential Loss & Probability of
Occurrence)
 Assessment of Risk in different sectors
• In Financial Sector: Loss can be expressed in terms of
Dollars/INR/Euro in Insurance
• In Public Health Sector: Loss is expressed in terms of Verbal
Description of the outcome
• In Project Management: It studies the probability, the impact and
the effect of every known risk of the project undertaken as well as
the corrective actions to be taken to avoid loss/hazard.
Ex: User Manual of any product helps one to avoid risk
Software Development: Language should not be ambiguous. It
has to be consistent to avoid complication.
Whistle Blowing: raising concern about wrong doing
• Whistle Blower is a person, who exposes the
misconduct or illegal activity occurring in an
organization. The alleged misconduct can be
classified as violation of law/ rule/ fraud.
The Whistle Blower can be
• Internal/ External/ Third Party
• Whistle Blowers are selfless martyrs for public
interest and organizational accountability. But they
are also known as Traitors or Defectors.
 Engineering Ethics
Engineering Ethics is the field of applied ethics and
system of moral principles that apply to the practice
of engineering. An engineer has to be committed to
serving society and he must think of the welfare of
the majority. The engineer should avoid a situation
that might be hazardous or threatening to the
environment, life, health or other rights of human
being. It is an inescapable duty of the engineers to
uphold the prestige of his profession.
 Product Liability
Product Liability lies with the manufacturers, distributors and
retailers who make the products available to public. They become
responsible if the products cause harm to the buyers:
Types of Liability:
a. Manufacturing Defect
b. Design Defect
c. Failure to warn Public (Known as Marketing Defect)
 Warranty and Breach of Warranty
Warranties are statements by a manufacturer / seller
concerning a product during a commercial transaction. It
provides assurance by one party to the other that specific
facts or conditions are true and will happen.

Breach of Warranty refers to the failure of a seller to fulfill

the terms of a promise or claim made concerning the quality
or type of the product.
 Consumer Protection
It is meant to ensure the rights of consumers as well as fair
trade. Consumer Protection Laws are a form of government
regulation, which aim to protect the rights of the consumers.
The manufacturer is liable if the product is defective.
Ex: Jago Grahak Jago, Consumer Protection Association
(CPA)
The Consumer Protection Act: 1986
The Sales of Goods Act: 1930
The Food Adulteration Act: 1954
The Drug and Cosmetics Act: 1940
 Quality Control and PSU
It is a process by which the quality of all factors
involved in production are reviewed. It is a set of
procedures intended to ensure that a manufactured
product or a service (already performed) adheres to a
defined set of qualities (criteria) to meet the
requirements of the client or customers.
PSU: Public Sector Undertaking: The PSU companies
provide basic government services. It includes:
Military, Police, Healthcare Sector, Primary Education