Senses of “Engineering Ethics” – Variety of moral

issues – Types of inquiry – Moral dilemmas – Moral

Autonomy – Kohlberg‟s theory – Gilligan‟s
theory – Consensus and Controversy – Models
of professional roles - Theories about right action
– Self-interest – Customs and Religion – Uses of
Ethical Theories

2
The scope of engineering ethics is twofold:

1. Ethics of the workplace which involves the

co-workers and employees in an organization.

2. Ethics related to the product or work which involves

- the transportation,
- warehousing
- use
- the safety of the end product and
- the environment outside the factory.

3
 Ethics is an activity and area of inquiry

◦ Understanding, resolving and justifying moral values

 Ethics marks a distinction between moral & non moral

problems

 Ethics is used to refer to the particular set of beliefs,

attitudes and habits that a person or group displays.
◦ Greeks ethics

◦ Protestant work ethics

There are two different senses (meanings) of
engineering ethics:

1. Normative and
2. Descriptive senses.

5
 The normative sense include:
◦ (a) Knowing moral values, finding accurate
solutions to moral problems and justifying moral
judgments in engineering practices.
◦ (b) Study of decisions, policies, and values that are
morally desirable in the engineering practice and
research, and
◦ (c) Using codes of ethics and standards and
applying them in their transactions by engineers.
 The descriptive sense refers to what specific
individual or group of engineers believe and
act, without justifying their beliefs or
actions.
There are conventionally two approaches in the study
of ethics:

1.Micro-ethics which deals with decisions and

problems of individuals, professionals, and
companies.

2.Macro-ethics which deals with the societal

problems on a regional/national level.
Example: global issues, collective responsibilities of
groups such as professional societies and
consumer groups.

8
 Why and how do moral issues (problems) arise in a profession or why do people behave unethically?
 Faulty construction equipment but used it so that the project would not be delayed
 Permit to operate a nuclear plant – licensing agency knows emergency measures are adopted for plant personnel but not for surrounding population
 Waste from chemical plant dumped caused water pollution. Engineers are aware but don’t change because their competitors did the same cheap way.
 Ads with Impressive specifications of product that is not yet ready for sale. Customers drawn away from competing lines.

9
 The reasons for people behaving
unethically may be classified into three
categories:
1. Resource Crunch
2. Opportunity
3. Attitude

10
 Due to pressure
 Tough time limits
 Budgetary constraints
 Technology decay or obsolescence
 Overcome by
involving individuals in development of goals & values

Input to decision making will prevent unethical results

11
(a) Double standards or behavior of the employers towards the
employees and the public.
(b) Management projecting their own interests more than that of
their employees.
(c) Emphasis on results and gains at the expense of the employees,
(d) Management by objectives, without focus on empowerment and
improvement of the infrastructure.
This is best encountered by
◦ Developing policies that allow ‘conscience keepers’ (A superior, who
by his influence makes his dependants act as he pleases. ) and whistle
blowers (is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity
that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization
that is either private or public)

◦ Appointing ombudsman, who can work confidentially with people to

solve the unethical problems internally.
12
Poor attitude of the employees set in due to
(a) Low morale of the employees because of dissatisfaction and
downsizing,
(b) Absence of grievance redressal mechanism,
(c) Lack of promotion or career development policies or denied
promotions,
(d) Lack of transparency,
(e) Absence of recognition and reward system, and
(f) Poor working environments.
Directions to promote positive attitudes among the employees.
 Giving ethics training for all,
 Recognizing ethical conduct in work place,
 Including ethics in performance appraisal, and
 Encouraging open discussion on ethical issues

13
Engineering ethics involves investigations into
values, meaning and facts.
The three types of inquiries, in solving ethical
problems are:
1.Normative Inquiry
2.Conceptual Inquiry
3.Factual or Descriptive Inquiry

14
 It seeks to identify the values that should guide individuals and
groups
 Normative questions are about what ought to be and what is good,
based on moral values.
For example,
1. How far does the obligation of engineers to protect public safety extend in any
given situation?

2. When, if ever, should engineers be expected to blow whistle on dangerous

practices of their employers?

3. Whose values ought to be primary in making judgment about acceptable risks in

design for a public transport system or a nuclear plant? Is it of management, senior
engineers, government, voters or all of them?

4. When and why is the government justified in interfering with the organisations?

5. What are the reasons on which the engineers show their obligations to their
employees or clients or the public?

15
 It is directed to clarify the meaning of concepts or ideas or principles
that are expressed by words or by questions and statements.

 For example,

 (a) What is meant by safety?

 (b) How is it related to risk?

 (c) What is a bribe?

 (d) What is a profession?

 When moral concepts are discussed, normative and conceptual issues

are closely interconnected.

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 It is aimed to obtain facts needed for understanding
and resolving value issues.
 Researchers conduct factual inquiries using
mathematical or statistical techniques.
 The facts provide not only the reasons for moral
problems but also enable us to develop alternative ways
of resolving moral problems.
 For example,
 1. How were the benefits assessed?
 2. What are procedures followed in risk assessment?
 3. What are short-term and long-term effects of drinking
water being polluted?
 4. Who conducted the tests on materials?

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 Consider a young Engineer who is convinced that the level of
pollutants her company is pouring into a stream is
dangerously high, given that children are using the river for
swimming. She expresses her view to her immediate
supervisor , who says that her fears are unfounded since the
pollution has caused no complaints in the past. Is she
required to do more?
 Normative Inquiry – What she ought to do and why.
 Conceptual Inquiry – Clarification into ideas about safety,
loyalty to companies, professional freedom and autonomy.
 Factual Inquiry – discover realistic options to provide an
estimate of likely consequences, sound recommendations
about what the engineer should do.
 Why Study Engineering Ethics?
 To increase the ability of engineers , managers and others to
responsibly confront moral issues raised by technological activity.
 Definition
 Dilemmas are situations in which more two or more moral
obligations, duties, ideals come into conflict, and one is not clear
of the immediate choice or solution of the problems.
◦ These situations do not mean that things had gone wrong, but they only indicate
the presence of moral complexity.
◦ This makes the decision making complex.
 For example, a person promised to meet a friend and dine, but he
has to help his uncle who is involved in an accident — one has to
fix the priority.
 There are some difficulties in arriving at the solution to the
problems, in dilemma.

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The three complex situations leading to moral dilemmas are:
1. The problem of vagueness: One is unable to distinguish between good
and bad (right or wrong) principle.
- Conclude whether the gift is a bribe or an innocent amenity
2. The problem of conflicting reasons: One is unable to choose between
two good moral solutions. One has to fix priority, through knowledge or
value system.
- Engineer promise to his employer and colleague. It is difficult
to fulfill both .Drop off one which has the least importance
3. The problem of disagreement: Individuals and groups may disagree with
resolving moral problems in difficult situations.
 These solutions may be better or worse in some respects but not in all aspects.

 One has to interpret, apply different morally reasons, and analyze and rank the
decisions.

 Select the best suitable, under the existing and the most probable conditions.

20
The logical steps in confronting moral dilemma are:

21
22
The engineering skills related to moral autonomy are listed as follows:
 1. Proficiency in recognizing moral problems in engineering and
ability to distinguish as well as relate them to problems in law,
economics, and religion,
 2. Skill in comprehending, clarifying, and critically-assessing
arguments on different aspects of moral issues,
 3. Ability to form consistent and comprehensive view points based
on facts,
 4. Awareness of alternate responses to the issues and creative
solutions for practical difficulties,
 5. Sensitivity to genuine difficulties and subtleties (nice point),
including willingness to undergo and tolerate some uncertainty
while making decisions,
 6. Using rational (balanced) dialogue in resolving moral conflicts
and developing tolerance of different perspectives among morally
reasonable people, and
 7. Maintaining moral integrity (honesty).

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 1. Kohlberg Theory

 2.Gilligan’s Theory
 Moral development in human being occurs over age
and experience.
 Kohlberg suggested there are three levels of moral
development, namely

1. Pre-conventional,
2. Conventional, and
3. Post-conventional.

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 Pre-conventional level:
 Right conduct for an individual is regarded as
whatever directly benefits oneself.
 Individuals are motivated by obedience or the desire
to avoid punishment or to satisfy their own needs or
by the influence by power on them.
 All young children exhibit this tendency.
 Conventional level:
 People respect the law and authority.
 Rules and norms of one’s family or group or society is accepted,
as the standard of morality.
 Individuals in this level want to please or satisfy, and get approval
by others and to meet the expectations of the society, rather than
their self interest (e.g., Good boy, good girl).

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 Post-conventional level:
◦ People are called autonomous.
◦ They think originally and want to live by universally good
principles and welfare of others.
◦ They have no self-interest.
◦ They follow the golden rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you’.
◦ They maintain moral integrity, self-respect and respect for
others.

 Kohlberg believed that individuals could only progress through

these stages, one stage at a time.
 He believed that most of the moral development occurs through
social interactions.

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 Carol Gilligan found that Kohlberg’s theory had a
strong male bias.
 Men were found to resolve moral dilemma by choosing
the most important moral rule, overriding other rules.
 In contrast, women gave importance to preserve
personal relationships with all the people involved.
 The context oriented emphasis on maintaining
personal relationships was called the ethics of care, in
contrast with the ethics of rules and rights adopted by
men.
 Gilligan revised the three levels of moral development
of Kohlberg, as stages of growth towards ethics of
caring.

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 The pre-conventional level, which is same as that of
Kohlberg’s first one, right conduct, is viewed in a
selfish manner solely as what is good for oneself.
 The second level called conventional level, the
importance is on not hurting others, and willing to
sacrifice one’s own interest and help others. This is the
characteristic feature of women.
 At the post-conventional level, a reasoned balance is
found between caring about others and pursuing the
self-interest.
 The balance one’s own need and the needs of others,
is aimed while maintaining relationship based on
mutual caring.
 This is achieved by context-oriented reasoning, rather
than by hierarchy of rules.

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 The theories of moral development by Kohlberg
and Gilligan differ in the following respects.

32
 Consensus means ‘agreement’ and ‘controversy’ means
disagreement.
 Surely there must be some moral differences i.e. the results
or verdicts will be of controversy.
 This kind of disagreements is unavoidable.
 These disagreements require some tolerances among
individuals those who are autonomous, reasonable and
responsible.
 The goal of teaching engineering ethics is to reveal the ways
of promoting tolerances to apply moral autonomy.
 There are two general points regarding the
relationship between autonomy and authority with
reference to the class room:
1. Moral autonomy and respect for the authority cannot
be differentiated or separated from each other.
 Moral autonomy is exercised on the basis of moral
concern for other people and also recognition of good
moral reasons.
 Authority provides for the framework in which learning
can take place.
1. Generally a tension may arise among the
individuals regarding the need for consensus
about authority and need for autonomy.
◦ This tension can be reduced by discussing openly
regarding a moral issue between students and faculty
with the help of the authority.
 There are several role models to whom the engineers are
attracted. These models provoke their thinking, attitudes and
actions.

1.Savior : The engineer as a savior, save the society from poverty,

illiteracy and lead it to prosperity, through technological
development and social planning.

2.Guardian: He knows the directions and the pace with which the
technology should develop. Uses his expertise to determine what
is best suited to the society.

3.Bureaucratic Servant : The engineer is a loyal organization man

with special skills. Accepts the challenge in the organisation and
shapes them into concrete achievements.

36
4. Social Servant:
Servant It is one who exhibits social responsibility. The
engineer translates the interest and aspirations of the society into
a reality.

5. Social Enabler and Catalyst :One who changes the society

through technology. Plays active role , beyond mere compliance
to orders. Acts as a social enabler and a catalyst for further
growth.

6. Game Player: He is neither a servant nor master. He enjoys the

excitement of the profession and also has the satisfaction of
surging ahead in a competitive world.

37
The ethical theories are useful in many respects.
1. In understanding moral dilemma.
2. Identifying the moral considerations or reasons that constitute a
dilemma.
3. Provide a more precise sense of what kinds of information are
relevant to solving moral dilemmas.
4. Provides helpful practical guidance in moral issues towards the
solution.
5. The theories suggest a general priority of the obligation to
protect the public.
6. It provides a systematic framework for comparing the
alternatives.

39
1. The theory must be clear and coherent formulated with concepts
that are logically connected.
2. It must be, internally consistent i.e., none of its principles conflicts
with any other
3. The theory and its defense must depend, only upon facts.
4. It must organize basic moral values in systematic and
comprehensive manner. It is to fix priority of values and provide
guidance in all situations
5. It must provide guidance compatible with our moral convictions
(judgments) about concrete situations.
For example, if an ethical theory says that it is all right for engineers to make
explosive devices without the informed consent of the public, we can
conclude that the theory is inadequate.

40
Several ethical theories have been developed over
different times, each of them stressing certain
ethical principles or features.

Four types of ethical theories are prominent

1. Virtue Ethics – ideals of good character
2. Right Ethics
Focus on principles about right
3. Duty Ethics or wrong conduct
4. Utilitarianism

41
 Oldest and prominent in Greek and traditional world religions.
 Aristotle: VIRTUE AND THE GOLDEN MEAN
 Defines virtues as acquired habits that enable us to engage effectively in
rational activities.
 Regarded Wisdom – good judgment as important virtue
 Moral virtues are tendencies acquired through habit formation to reach a
proper balance between extremes of conduct, emotion, desire, attitudes to
find the golden mean between the extremes of ‘excess’ or ‘deficiency’

42
 MacIntyre: VITRUES AND PRACTICES
 Related virtues with the social practices ie., cooperative activities that
are aimed at achieving public goods.
 Any profession should develop for the sake of public goods
 He calls public goods as internal goods
 Internal goods – define what the practices are all about and defines
that achievement is good for the whole community
 External goods – money , prestige which can be achieved by different
kinds of activities and do not define any specific practice. They are
some individual’s property and possession.

 Primary internal good of

• Medicine – good health
• Law – social justice
• Teaching learning – Self development
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 Classification of Virtues:
1. Self direction virtues : Fundamental virtues in exercising our moral
autonomy and responsibility. e.g. self understanding, humility, good
moral judgment, courage, self discipline, perseverance, commitments,
self-respect and dignity

2. Public Spirited Virtues : Focusing on the benefit of the clients and

society. 3 important public spirited virtues : Justice, Sense of
community, generosity

3. Team Work Virtues: Enables professionals to work successfully with

others. E.g. collegiality, cooperativeness, the ability to communicate,
respect for authority, loyalty to employers and leadership qualities

4. Proficiency Virtues : Mastery of one’s craft that characterize good

engineering practice e.g. competence, diligence, creativity, self-
renewal through continuous education (mastery over the profession)

44
 Rights are entitlement to act or to have another individual
act in a certain way.
 The RIGHTS approach to ethics has its roots in the 18th
century philosopher Immanuel Kant, who focused on the
individual’s right.
 People are not objects to be manipulated; it is a violation of
human dignity to use people in ways they do not freely
choose.
 Other rights he advocated are:
1. The right to access the truth
2. The right of privacy
3. The right not to be injured
4. The right to what is agreed

45
 The RIGHTS theory as promoted by John Locke states that the actions are right,
if they respect human rights of every one affected.
 He proposed the three basic human rights, namely life, liberty, and property.
 His views were reflected in the modern American society.
 As per A.I. Melden’s theory based on rights, nature mandates that we should
not harm others’ life, health, liberty or property.
 Melden allowed welfare rights also for living a decent human life.
 He highlighted that the rights should be based on the social welfare system
 Human rights: Human rights are explained in two forms, namely liberty rights
and welfare rights.
 Liberty rights are rights to exercise one’s liberty and stresses duties on other
people not to interfere with one’s freedom.
 The Welfare Rights are the rights to benefit the needy for a decent human life,
when one can not earn those benefits and when those benefits are available in
the society.

46
 Economic rights: In the free-market economy, the very purpose of
the existence of the manufacturer, the sellers and the service
providers is to serve the consumer.
 The consumer is eligible to exercise some rights.
 The consumers’ six basic rights are:
1. Right to Information,
2. Right to Safety,
3. Right to Choice,
4. Right to be Heard,
5. Right to Redressal, and
6. Right to Consumer Education.

47
 The duty ethics theory, proposed by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
states, that actions are consequences of performance of one’s
duties such as, ‘being honest’, ‘not cause suffering of others’,
‘being fair to others including the meek and week’, ‘being grateful’,
‘keeping promises’ etc.
 As per Kant we have duties to ourselves, as we are rational and
autonomous beings.
 We have a duty not to commit suicide;

 a duty to develop our talents and

 a duty to avoid harmful drugs.

 Kant insisted that moral duties are categorical imperatives.

 For example, we should be honest because honesty is required by duty. A
businessman is to be honest because honesty pays — in terms of profits
from customers and from avoiding jail for dishonesty.

48
 DUTY ethics theory, as enunciated by John Rawl, gave importance
to the actions that would be voluntarily agreed upon by all persons
concerned, assuming impartiality.
 Rawl proposed two basic moral principles;
 (1) each person is entitled to the most extensive amount of liberty
compatible with an equal amount for others, and
 (2) differences in social power and economic benefits are justified
only when they are likely to benefit everyone, including members of
the most disadvantaged groups.
 In the business scenario, for example, the free enterprise is
permissible so far it provides the capital needed to invest and
prosper, thereby making job opportunities to the public and taxes
to fund the government spending on the welfare schemes on the
poor people.

49
 C.W.D. Ross, the British philosopher introduced the
term prima facie duties, which means duties might
have justified exceptions.

50
 He has listed various aspects of Duty Ethics that reflect
our moral convictions, namely:
1. Fidelity : duty to keep promises.

2. Reparation : duty to compensate others when we harm them.

3. Gratitude : duty to thank those who help us.

4. Justice : duty to recognize merit.

5. Beneficence : duty to recognize inequality and improve the condition of others.

6. Self-improvement : duty to improve virtue and intelligence.

7. Non-malfeasance : duty not to injure others.

51
 The term Utilitarianism was conceived in the
19th century by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart
Mill to help legislators determine which laws
were morally best.
 They suggested that the standard of right

conduct is maximization of good consequences.

 Good consequences mean either ‘utilities’ or the

‘balance of good over evil’.

 This approach weighs the costs and benefits.
 Right actions are the ones that produce the

greatest satisfaction of the preferences of the

affected persons.

52
 The ACT UTILITARIAN theory proposed by J.S. Mill
(1806-73) focuses on actions, rather than on general
rules.
 An action is right, if it generates the most overall
good for the most people involved.
 The RULE UTILITARIAN theory, developed by Richard
Brandt (1910-97), stressed on the rules, such as
 ‘do not steal’,
 ‘do no harm others’,
 ‘do not bribe’, as of primary importance.
 He suggested that individual actions are right when
they are required by set of rules which maximizes the
public good.

53
 The act utilitarian theory permitted a few immoral
actions.
 Hence, there was need to develop rule utilitarian
theory to establish morality and justice, in the
transactions.
 For example, stealing an old computer from the
employer will benefit the employee more than the
loss to the employer.
 As per Act, utilitarian this action is right.
 But rule utilitarian observes this as wrong, because
the employee should act as ‘faithful agent or trustee
of the employees’.

54
 Self-interest is being good and acceptable to oneself.
 It is pursuing what is good for oneself.
 It is very ethical to possess self-interest.
 Each of the ethical theories recognizes the importance of
self-respect.
 Utilitarian considers one’s own good as well as the good of
others.
 Duty ethicists stresses duties to ourselves.
 Ethicists of rights emphasize our rights to pursue our own
good.
 Virtue ethicists specifies the importance of self – respect.
 Each of these theories insists that the pursuit of self – interest must be
balanced and kept under control by moral responsibilities to other
people.

55
 “Ethical Egoism” challenges all the ethical theories and it tries
to reduce pursuit of self-interest.
 It is called ‘egoism’, because it says that the main duty of us is
to maximize our own good.
 It says that every one of us should always and only promote
one’s own interest.
 The ethical egoists do not accept the well being of the
community or caring for others.
 However this self interest should not degenerate into egoism
or selfishness.
 The principles of ‘Live and let (others) live’, and
 ‘reasonably fair competition’ are recommended to
professionals by the ethicists.

56
 We live in a society which is of increasingly diverse
nature, it is more important to have tolerance for
various customs and outlooks.
 Ethical pluralism allows the customs which plays an
important role in deciding how we should act.
 Moral values are many, varied and flexible.
 These moral values allow considerable variation in
how different individuals and groups understand
and apply them in their day-today activities.
 Ethical pluralism allows the customs which plays an
important role in deciding how we should act.
 Ethical relativism says that actions are morally right
when they are approved by law or custom and they
are said to be wrong when they violate laws or
customs.
 There are so many reasons for accepting ethical
relativism:
1. The laws and customs seem to be definite, real and
clear – cut.
2. It believes the values are subjective at the cultural
level. They also state that the moral standards are
varied from one culture to another
 Religions have played major roles in shaping moral
views and moral values, over geographical regions.
 Christianity has influenced the Western countries, Islam

in the Middle-East countries, Buddhism and Hinduism in

Asia, and Confucianism in China.
 Religions support moral responsibility.

 They have set high moral standards.

 Faith in the religions provides trust and this trust

inspires people to be moral.

 The religions insist on tolerance and moral concern for

others.
 Many professionals who possess religious beliefs are

motivated to be morally responsible.

59
 Each religion lays stress on certain high moral standards.
 Hinduism holds polytheistic (many gods) view, and virtues of
devotion and surrender to high order.
 Christianity believes in one god and emphasizes on virtues of
Love, Faith, and Hope.
 Buddhism is non-theistic and focuses on compassion
 Islam on one deity and adherence of ishan (piety or pursuit of
excellence) and prayer.
 Judaism stresses the virtue of ‘tsedakah’ (righteousness).
 But many religious sects have adopted poor moral standards,
e.g., many religious sects do not recognize equal rights for
women.
 The right to worship is denied for some people.
 People are killed in the name of or to promote religion.
 Thus, conflicts exist between the ‘secular’ and religious
people and between one religion and another.
 Hence, religious views have to be morally scrutinized.

60
 As per this principle, the right action is defined by the
commands of God.
 It implies that to be moral, a person should believe in God
and an action is right only if it is commanded by God.
 There are some difficulties in this approach, namely,
 (a) whether God exists or not is not clear.
 (b) How to know what are the God’s commands? and
 (c) How to verify the genuineness of the commands?
 Further, religions such as Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity
accept the existence of God.
 But Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism adopt only faith in
a right path and do not believe in God.
 Many such crimes were committed in the name of
God then and continue even now in different parts
of the world.
 Some Western leaders had claimed that God had

commanded them to invade against the Middle-

East countries.
 If anyone claims to have obtained commands from

God to kill people merciless, then we have to

conclude that the person is not religious but
insane.
 Ethical theories have so many uses.
 Out of them, the following three are the most
important uses:
1. Understanding moral dilemmas.
2. Justifying professional obligations and ideas
3. Relating ordinary and professional morality
 When students enter the professional world, they will
be expected to follow an explicit or implicit ethical
code.
 To responsibly confront moral issues raised by
technological activity
 How to deal with ethical dilemmas in their professional
lives?
 To achieve moral autonomy