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Overview: |
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Ethical
misconduct seems to be the stuff of everyday headlines
and news shows - we are bombarded with stories about
the moral failings of our political leaders, top
athletes, and entertainers. Engineers are also subject
to public scrutiny: consider the attention that
the media has given to cases such as the Challenger
disaster, the Kansas City Hyatt-Regency Hotel walkways
collapse, and the Exxon oil spill. New and expanding
technological capabilities confront us with ethical
temptations and dilemmas. For example, never before
have we had to consider the ethical issues of human
cloning, or ponder the possibility of a worldwide
banking collapse. Computer-assisted design permits
architects and engineers to refine their calculations
so that they construct buildings with the thinnest,
least expensive materials, reducing margins of error.
Technology allows us to introduce innovations into
our homes and work places, but we don't always take
time to conduct research on the social, economic,
and medical impacts they may have on our lives.
The 21st century promises to bring enormous ethical
challenges. As a response to this concern, a new
discipline, engineering ethics, is emerging.
What exactly is ethics? In the literal context,
ethics can be defined as "a body of moral principles."
Professional ethics and conduct constitutes a set
of rules and behaviors which facilitates effective
interaction on professional matters. In this respect,
ethical rules are very much like laws or standards
that govern social and professional interactions.
Ethical behavior may broadly be equated with the
respect for one's colleagues, and for their rights.
Engineering is similar to professions such as law
and medicine in that it has specialized knowledge,
the privilege of self-regulation, and a responsibility
to the public. We use our training and abilities
to benefit society, and society expects that we
will oversee and regulate the performance of our
fellow engineers. Thus, our education and our professional
practice must consider the ethical dimensions of
engineering.
Professional ethics are not just a personal preference
established and governed by the individual engineer.
Because of the importance of professional behavior,
most companies and professional societies have
drafted codes of ethics to which their members
are required
to commit. Overall, the codes tend to be very similar.
The ASME codes Policy
15-7
are based on several fundamental principles, which
provide guidance to professional engineers in commonly-encountered
situations.
Nevertheless, there are many "gray areas" that can
challenge engineers as they struggle to behave in
an ethical and moral manner. In this course, we
attempt to provide some background on the philosophical
models that guide ethical behavior and then to apply
these models to specific situations in engineering
codes of ethics. Of course, it is incumbent on any
professional practitioner to decide which principles
apply in any given circumstance. When there is conflict
between these guidelines, an engineer must use appropriate
philosophical models and standards to decide. |
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