The Social Responsibility Of Engineering

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, first introduced virtue ethics as a method to describe how a good person should act. As such, virtues play a major role in every profession including engineering. Virtuous engineers make better decisions throughout the design and analysis of any component, item, or system. This paper begins with a description of Aristotelian virtue ethics followed by a discussion on the virtues I have gained while at Texas A&M University, virtues needed as a mechanical engineer, and methods of expanding these virtues.

As time goes by, ethical and moral issues have been brought up for long periods of time and these issues are recently becoming the rising problem to be discussed in society, business area and daily life. Most of people generally understand that the general meaning of ethics equals to the meaning of moral. However, moral is basically a matter of individual conscience without forcibleness, but ethics are related to social system with forcibleness. The academic definition of ethics is described as a stem of philosophy which raises moral questions and is demonstrated what is the main characteristic of morality and the way in which moral standards are decided (Gray & Webb, 2010).

Moral and ethics defines the nature of our society and culture today. They are both complimentary in nature but different in some ways. Moral determines person’s character when an individual interacts in social and personal relationship and Ethics are the philosophical study of morality or moral standards. Utilitarian theory, Virtue ethics, and Deontological are some of the examples of major ethical theories that covered in this essay. Collaboration on personal experiences added as well by explaining the relationship between virtue, values, and moral concepts.

technology develops, people are facing a serious gap between human morality and the quick development of new technology. Unfortunately, ethical development cannot easily catch up with the speed of technological progress. Thus, people are at the critical point of moral responsibility. Gyatso thinks the relationship is an “unprecedented acquisition of knowledge and power that places us in a critical position at this time. The higher the level of knowledge and power, the greater must be our sense of moral responsibility”(133). People have a dilemma that

As with many other professions, civil engineering is deemed by society to be of higher ethical and moral standards due to the nature of our work affecting the general public in numerous ways. This comes as no surprise seeing as how our profession is responsible for planning and designing so much of the world around us. The roads we drive on, the

This paper will explore the perspectives of five engineers who use their skills in different fields to assess their views of the link between ethics and technology as well as determining how to place blame.

There are a variety of different ethical systems that have developed of the course of millennia. However, even though the subject has been covered so thoroughly, it is still heavily debated. The varieties of ethical systems that are in existence look at various ethical problems from different perspectives and can be applied differently in different circumstances. Because of the subjective aspects to applying ethics, they can be as much an art as they are a science. Ethics are something that must be practiced and really cannot be perfected. In this way, studying ethics is a continual process that does not really stop. This paper will argue that ethics are the most important subject that an individual can pursue.

Industrial Engineers often face the ethical dilemma of attempting to balance costs with quality and safety. Company management pressures Industrial systems engineers to design processes that are cost efficient, time constrained, and produce a high quality output. This puts the engineer in a tricky balancing act in which they are trying to make every stakeholder happy. Taking risks in order to create cost efficient solutions is not specific to only industrial engineers but applies to all disciplines of engineering, making this topic a relevant discussion. However, this conflict is especially true in a manufacturing setting where industrial engineers thrive, machine operators are often overworked, companies make products in high stakes, large batches, and the range of quality acceptance is growing ever smaller. A relevant example is the engineer who was designing a chemical plant in Mexico. In order to achieve the correct viscosity of the paint stripper, the engineer asked the plant operator to babysit the chemical mixture and manually release the valve when necessary. Engineering management’s decision puts the plant worker at a safety risk in order to achieve a tighter quality and standardization of the chemical stripper production process. Ultimately, this resulted in the catastrophic death of the plant worker and the destruction of the plant.

Ethics is the moral behavior that guides our actions; it motivates us in our personal behavior and is relevant in a business setting as well. Many organizations have set forth a set of guidelines known as a “Code of Ethics”. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, being one of these organizations, has set forth their code as a requirement for students and engineer members to adhere to. Heading towards a career in electrical engineering I choose this organization to elaborate on for my ethics project.

Indeed, engineering can be enriched by paying more attention to ethics. This guide uses cases drawn from real engineering situations, in order to allow engineers to practice ethical reasoning as it applies to these situations. However, in terms of developing better ethical awareness and reasoning skills, there is no substitute for dealing with the dilemmas and decisions that each of us faces daily. The first step is recognising these when they arise. Analysing them and responding effectively goes to the heart of personal and professional identity.

The following outline will help me write my essay about how engineers are faced with the ethical and moral issues of bribery in the industry. I chose this issue because it is a topic that speaks close to me. I have been put into many situations at work and during internships where I ask myself whether it is a bribe or if it is just networking. This essay will not only discuss the issue of bribery in the industry but help me further understand how to analyze certain scenarios if I am offered something else in the future.

Ethics by definition are defined as a set of moral rules of conduct that are accepted by general public and should be obeyed by everyone. Ethics are essential to the architecture of a modern dynamic society and play a vital part in engineering or any other businesses. Ethics provide guidance to humans to pursue a course of action correctively in specific situations, and prevent us from the ones that would have negative or drastic consequences. Ethics clarifies what is good and bad on the basis of moral principle or values. Regardless of which particular field the engineer is in (e.g. civil, electrical or mechanical), their main liability and responsibility are to ensure the health, safety, and general welfare of the public are protected to the highest level possible. Since almost the work done by engineers can have great impact on almost all aspects of our daily life, any design schemes or implementations that are made by engineers must meet the highest standard to ensure that no damages or potential damages to any resource, people, organization or environment will exist. Many organizations, like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) have established a set of code of ethics to

Engineering is a pylon of human development and technology,having a significant impact on people’s daily lives. Engineering has improved humanity in every aspect (e.g. transportation, communication, medicine) and it has the potential to overcome the challenges that mankind still faces. However, engineers have responsibility for their actions and they must learn to follow a set of ethical principles relating to their work. All of which have to be followed to the letter otherwise there can be severe consequences.

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017). In simple terms, ethics is the system of what is right and what is wrong. Usage of ethics on daily basis is important to a human being, a person is judged based on his/her behavior, whether it’s reasonable or aimless, ethics help people to have a purpose for their actions. Whether it’s during work or outside in open streets, it’s important to have basic ethical behavior. There are many types of ethical behavior that take place every single day. By being simply honest and kind, gives the other person an idea that you have ethics. This paper will cover

Practically every professional engineering organization has developed a code of ethics. Codes of ethics are formal declarations of an engineer’s professional obligations, and it is important to know expectations for oneself before pursuing and committing to a course of action. This paper is also a great opportunity to practice researching and writing skills which are necessary to almost every career.