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Online Ethics Center: Background Concepts for Teaching Engineering Ethics

Key Concepts for Teaching Engineering Ethics
Links and Bibliography

Thinking clearly about professional ethics requires an adequate framework from which to approach the issues. Professionals need a common language with which to communicate about the issues and they need to develop their own methods for analyzing and resolving them. There are several key concepts and ideas essential to developing this framework. This section gives advice on how to teach these background concepts to engineering students. A common language is gained by introducing students to ethical terms and concepts. In addition to some specific concepts related to engineering ethics discussed below, please see our glossary for definitions of other relevant ethical terms.

Key Concepts For Teaching Engineering Ethics

Professional Responsibility and Trust

What to stress:: A clear understanding of professional responsibilities begins with an understanding of what it means to be a professional. Emphasis should be given to the idea that professionals have special knowledge and skills that directly influence human well-being and that this brings with it special responsibilities that others may not have. Moreover, because of their influence on human well-being, it is imperative that professionals gain and maintain public trust. Without the public's trust, the profession cannot thrive and professionals lose their ability to be effective in influencing human well-being. It should be pointed out that trust is gained and maintained not only by being competent (knowing the field) but by living up to high moral standards. Showing students various statements about the engineering profession might be a good place to start.
Pre-assignment:: Ask students to write down what they think of when they hear the word 'professional'. What words or phrases come to mind? Ask students to think of an incident in which they think a person failed to act like a professional or an incident in which they think a person was an exemplary professional. What is it about that incident or the person's behavior that they think was unprofessional or exemplary? This can then be used as a basis for discussion.
Hints for Discussion:: One way to give students a clear sense of the power of being a professional and the responsibilities that come with it is to discuss an example with which all students are familiar: medicine. Get students to imagine the following scenario: You are on vacation and you get very sick. You need to see a doctor. You open up the yellow pages, look up 'physician', find a doctor near your resort, and go. Ask your students: what enables you to do this-to call upon a strange man or woman to influence your well-being? At this point students will usually say something about the extensive training that physicians get-the many years of school, the continuing medical education training. Write down: competence on the board. Then continue with the scenario: You go to this doctor. She enters the room, introduces herself, and then asks you to take off your shirt and pants. She then begins to ask you all sorts of personal questions: do you do drugs, how many sexual partners have you had in the past month, when was the last time you went to the bathroom. Point out that we are willing to take off our clothes and share intimate facts about ourselves to the doctor - someone we just met. We don't do that with just anyone. So why do we feel comfortable doing it with this stranger? Students will usually say at this point: we trust the doctor. Ask them why they trust the doctor and they will usually respond: because they keep our confidence, etc. Write down: morality or moral code on the board. Finally, ask students what they think would happen if physicians started breaching their moral code: like breaking the confidentiality of patients. This might cause patients to refrain from seeing physicians or to be less forthright in their discussions with doctors. This, in turn, renders doctors unable to be as effective in enhancing patient well-being.
Post Assignment:: Once students see the importance of competence and morality to the medical profession, they can easily see their importance for the engineering profession. Ask students to point out the similarities between the two professions. Like medical professionals, engineers have special knowledge that influences human well-being. Like medicine, engineers must be trusted by the public and so must be competent and have high moral standards. Ask students: how does engineering influence human well-being? How might engineers gain public trust? What might happen if engineers lose that trust? (See below.)

Controlling Technology in the Face of Uncertainty

What to stress:: Stephen Unger defines technology as "the intelligent organization and manipulation of materials for useful purposes." (See citation below.) Engineers influence human well-being through technology. One important question that lies behind many of the ethical issues engineers face is the extent to which technology can be directed and controlled. And if it can be directed and controlled, who should do so and how should such control be exerted? Technology has obviously brought great benefits to humanity. But it has also brought problems. This is where it can seem that technology is uncertain or cannot be easily controlled or directed. There are unforeseen problems that arise in large scale projects or unforeseen social problems that result from technological growth. People may choose to use new technology for sinister purposes. The extent to which the public trusts engineers depends, in part, on whether engineers meet public concerns. It depends on how they influence human well-being. When designing products, engineers should think about the social, environmental, and personal effects those products might have. To what extent are engineers responsible for these possible effects?
Group Assignment and Discussion:: Think of an engineering product that has profoundly affected human existence, such as the personal computer, the microwave, or the automobile. What are the positive and negative influences these products have had? What, if anything, can engineers have done to reduce the negative influences? Is it the engineer's responsibility to try to reduce these negative influences? What can we learn from these past experiences that can be applied to current engineering projects? What questions can engineers ask themselves when designing new products that might help address these potential problems? Use the groups' answers to these questions as a basis for general discussion. This discussion should be used to raise questions-the answers to which will be discussed throughout your course.
Post Assignment:: Have students look at various codes of ethics of professional engineering societies. This will help bring to light the kinds of issues raised in your discussion; namely, that engineers should be cognizant of the effects technology has on human well-being and should take steps (where possible) to direct and control those effects so that human well-being is enhanced and not undermined.

Links and Bibliography

Codes of Ethics: This page contains examples of codes of ethics written by professional societies of engineers.

Unger, Stephen. 1994. Controlling Technology: Ethics and the Responsible Engineer. 2nd edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: This book has a great discussion of the questions surrounding the uncertainty of technology. There are also a number of excellent discussion questions.
Vesilind, P. Aarne and Gunn, Alastair S. 1998. Engineering, Ethics, and the Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.: This book has an excellent discussion of the notion of professionalism. It also has a series of scenarios addressing social concerns for engineers.
Whitbeck, Caroline. 1998. Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.: This book contains an excellent discussion of ethical terms relevant to engineering ethics. It also has an easy to understand approach to thinking about ethical issues in engineering, by comparing them to design problems