Ethics

1. Ethics

2. Lecture 11:Engineering Ethics Approximate Running Time - 27 minutes Distance Learning / Online Instructional Presentation Presented by School of Engineering and Computer Science Baylor University • Procedures: • Select “Slide Show” with the menu: Slide Show|View Show (F5 key), and hit “Enter” • You will hear “CHIMES” at the completion of the audio portion of each slide; hit the “Enter” key, or the “Page Down” key, or “Left Click” • You may exit the slide show at any time with the “Esc” key; and you may select and replay any slide, by navigating with the “Page Up/Down” keys, and then hitting “Shift+F5”.

3. Introduction Steven Eisenbarth, Ph.D., P.E. Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Baylor University

4. Rules Govern Human Interaction • Etiquette – codes of behavior and courtesy • Law – system of rules established by statutes or custom (as in common law) • Morals – accepted standards of right and wrong • Some are universal (e.g., lying or killing) • Some are not (e.g., polygamy and divorce) • Ethics – general and abstract concepts of right and wrong behavior culled from philosophy, theology and professional societies.

5. Overlap May Lead to Conflicts • What is legal is not always moral. • What is moral is not always legal. • Sometimes even moral principles collide with each other. More on this later.

6. Ethics Example— Speed Limits • Moral question? • Conceptual question? • Applications question? • Factual question?

7. Resolving Ethical Dilemmas • Factual Issues – arises when there is uncertainty about morally relevant facts. • Applications Issues – result when it is unclear if a particular act violates a law, rule or policy. • Conceptual Issues – arise when the morality of an action is agreed upon, but there is uncertainty about how it should be codified. • Moral Issues – are involved if the issue can only be resolved by making a moral decision.

8. Other Examples • Untreated industrial waste discharges • Housing development over toxic waste site • Are theses examples of: • Moral question? • Conceptual question? • Applications question? • Factual question?

9. Emmanuel Kant • Sought to establish the ultimate principle of morality. • Motivation behind the act important not the results achieved by the act. • An action is moral if one could will the action be a universal law. • Respect for persons. • Persons should never be an means to an end but an end in themselves. • Critical of Utilitarian theories because they tended to devalued human worth.

10. John Stewart Mill • Greatly influenced by the writing of Jeremy Bentham. • Utilitarianism – “The greatest happiness principle”. • Moral activities are those that create the most good for the most people. Best cost/benefit ratio. • Requires assessment of the results of actions not the motives of the actor. • Happiness defined as intellectual as well as sensual pleasure. • Human dignity implies that intellectual pleasure is to be preferred to sensual pleasure.

11. Rights Analysis • Similar to Utilitarianism. • Maximize “rights” rather than “happiness” • Two type of rights: • Liberty rights • Welfare rights • All “rights” are not of equal importance. • Greater weight give to “most important” rights • Select action the infringes the least on the rights of those involved.

12. Christian Ethics • Love God with heart, soul, mind and strength. • Love neighbor as self. • Moral law as civil restraint. • Moral law as a spiritual mirror. • Moral law as a spur to good deeds. • One seeks God’s grace in all life’s actions

13. Moral Principles:Conflicting Guidance • What is best for society is not necessarily best for everyone in society. • Example – where to build an airport • Example – Stalin murdering 20,000,000 Russians, ostensibly to make Russia better for the remaining 200,000,000 people. • Engineers generally use cost/benefit analysis which is more utilitarian. • Which moral theory is more prevalent in American public policy? In American personal ethics?

14. Canon of Engineering Ethics • Protect public safety, health and welfare. • Perform duties only in area of competence. • Be truthful and objective. • Avoid conflicts of interest. • Reject bribes and gifts that would interfere with your engineering judgment. • Provide honest value to one’s employer. • Protect employer’s or client’s confidential information. • Protect the environment.

15. Which of Canons Apply? • Engineers get paid to testify as expert witnesses by the hour, whether their side wins or loses. Lawyers can work for a contingency. Why? What canon applies. • When an engineering goes to work for a competitor of his current employer, what canon applies?

16. Engineering as a Profession • Profession are defined by statue and regulated by State Boards • Doctors must pass medical exam to obtain license and practice medicine. • Lawyers must pass Bar exam to practice law. • Engineers may or may not be licensed. • In Texas engineering is regulated by the Engineering Practice Act. • This Act includes as section on “Professional Conduct and Ethics”.

17. Ethics and Risk Analysis • Engineered artifact and systems possess inherent risk • Engineer work to lower the risks involved • Risks can be reduced but not necessarily eliminated • Users must be informed of the inherent and residual risk so that they can make informed choices

18. Resource Allocation & the Value of Human Life • Why we can’t put infinite value on human life in engineering work? • What value on their lives (on average) do Americans put? • What are the two critical principles in deciding what is an acceptable level of risk in engineering work? • Voluntary or involuntary • Who takes risk and who gets reward

19. Ethical Lapses that Resulted in Engineering Disasters From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chernobyl_Disaster.jpg

20. Assignment • Browse the Texas Board of Professional Engineers Website • http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/ • Locate the Texas Engineering Registration Requirements • http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/eng_req.htm • Locate the Texas Laws and Rules • http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/downloads.htm#general • Download a copy of the Law and Rules Document • Read Subsection C: Personal Conduct and Ethics