Engineering Ethics

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Recommended: Why ethics are important for engineers

In this essay I shall consider whether the primary goal of a course on engineering should be to teach students the standards of professional conduct as set out by major engineering codes of ethics, or if they should think autonomously about moral issues.

The speaker in the essay question suggest that the former argument is correct, and that engineering courses should have the goal of teaching students to master the standards set out by codes of ethics as following these is what engineering ethics consists of. This means that students should be taught that instead of making their own decisions about moral issues, they are to follow the guidelines set out for them by engineering institutions. Many agree with this philosophy, for example Thomas Strubel says, ‘without the code of ethics as a guide engineers would be ill-suited to take on challenges of the future’ [1]. His reasoning for his argument is that engineers carry out work that have a great-influence on society and the environment and hence they need some form of guidance on how to operate. Strubel believes that as we move into the future the demands faced by engineers will be ever greater and hence the dangers of making wrong decisions will also increase, if engineers are left to think autonomously.

Another reason students should be taught the standards set out in the codes of ethics is that the codes offer them help and advice in many situations. Martin and Schinzinger sums up the functions of the codes [2]; firstly they say that the codes provide inspiration and guidance to engineers. This guidance helps engineers in problematic situations, and also encourages how engineers should represent their profession in public. They also tell engineers that they need to thin...

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...thics’, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Fall 2001

Unknown Author, ‘Ford Pinto Case-Study’ (Internet). Available from: http://www.engineering.com/Library/ArticlesPage/tabid/85/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/166/Ford-Pinto.aspx, Accessed 30.11.2010

Martin, M.W. and Schinzinger, R. (2004) ‘Ethics in Engineering (Fourth Edition)’. McGraw-Hill Higher Education

Davis, M. (1998) ‘Thinking Like an Engineer’.

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics

Davis, M.(2005) ‘Engineering Ethics’.

Ashgate

Chetwynd, S. (2004) ‘Week 6 Lecture – Professional Codes of Ethics’

Strubel, T. ‘The Civil Engineer of 2025 – Ethics Come First’. Available from: www.asce.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2147489600, Accessed 30.11.2010

Luegenbiehl, H.C. (1991) ‘Codes of ethics and the moral education of engineers’, D.G. Johnson, Ed. Englewood Cliffs, p. 137.

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