ENGINEERING%20ETHICS%20in%203D

1
ENGINEERING ETHICS in 3D

• Gene Moriarty
• Department of Electrical Engineering
• San Jose State University

2
The Subject Matter of Ethics Moral Dilemmas

• A moral dilemma may be defined as a conflict a
  person experiences between two or more moral
  obligations in a particular circumstance. Joe
  Herkert

3
List of Typical Engineering Ethics Issues
Involving Conflicts of Obligation

• 1) conflict of interest
• 2) public safety and welfare
• 3) integrity of data representation of it
• 4) whistle-blowing
• 5) choice of a job
• 6) accountability to clients and customers
• 7) plagiarism
• 8) trade secrets industrial espionage
• 9) gift giving bribes
• 10) fair treatment

4
To these as well as other high-profile ethics
cases we apply

• De-ontology
• Utilitarianism
• Virtue Ethics
• Etc.

5

• IEEE Code of EthicsWe, the members of the IEEE,
  in recognition of the importance of our
  technologies in affecting the quality of life
  throughout the world, and in accepting a personal
  obligation to our profession, its members and the
  communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves
  to the highest ethical and professional conduct
  and agree
• to accept responsibility in making engineering
  decisions consistent with the safety, health and
  welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly
  factors that might endanger the public or the
  environment
• to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest
  whenever possible, and to disclose them to
  affected parties when they do exist
• to be honest and realistic in stating claims or
  estimates based on available data
• to reject bribery in all its forms
• to improve the understanding of technology, its
  appropriate application, and potential
  consequences
• to maintain and improve our technical competence
  and to undertake technological tasks for others
  only if qualified by training or experience, or
  after full disclosure of pertinent limitations
• to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of
  technical work, to acknowledge and correct
  errors, and to credit properly the contributions
  of others
• to treat fairly all persons regardless of such
  factors as race, religion, gender, disability,
  age, or national origin
• to avoid injuring others, their property,
  reputation, or employment by false or malicious
  action
• to assist colleagues and co-workers in their
  professional development and to support them in
  following this code of ethics.
•  
• Approved by the IEEE Board of DirectorsAugust
  1990

6
HISTORY OF CODES OF ETHICS

• 1803 First code of professional ethics
• (medical ethics)
• (Thomas Percival)
• 1852 ASCE (Civil Engineering)
• 1880 ASME (Mechanical Engineering)
• 1884 AIEE (Electrical Engineering)
• All these Professional Engineering Societies had
  CODES OF ETHICS

7
Engineering is

• 1) an art
• 2) a science
• 3) design
• 4) a profession
• 5) a business
• Engineering is the practice of making good on
  the promise of technology.

8
the project, the endeavor, the enterprise, the
venture
the engineering project
9
Contexts of the engineering project
the human lifeworld
systems
technological systems
the engineering project
10
Ethical Assessment of the Engineering Project
must ultimately take place within the Human
Lifeworld.
the human lifeworld
the engineering project
11
The Human Lifeworld

• Wherein we pursue GOALS, enact ROLES, and take up
  with THINGS of all sorts
• Wherein we talk to each other rather than about
  each other.
• Characterized by a human communication called THE
  CONVERSATION OF THE LIFEWORLD which is IDEALLY
  Mutual / Interdependent / Genuine / Open / Honest
  / Non-Coercive

12
The Micro-view of the Engineering Project

• The Engineered
• The Engineer
• Engineering

the engineering project
13
person / process / product

• The Engineer Engineers the Engineered.

14
the engineering project
The Engineer
Engineering
Virtue Ethics
Conceptual Ethics
PROCESS
PERSON
The Engineered
Material Ethics
PRODUCT
15
Three Types of Ethics

• VIRTUE ETHICS
• Care/objectivity/honesty
• CONCEPTUAL ETHICS
• Social Justice/Environmental Sustainability/Healt
  h Safety
• MATERIAL ETHICS
• Engagement/Enlivenment/Resonance

16

• ORIGINS
• VE ---- Stems from being-toward/being-with/being
  -for
• CE ---- Stems from health, safety, welfare
  phrase in CODES of ethics
• ME ---- Stems from interactions of
  product/end-user/world

17
MATERIAL ETHICS
PRODUCT
RESONANCE
ENGAGEMENT
ENLIVENMENT
END-USER
WORLD
18
Within the Conversation of the Lifeworld the
values of resonance / engagement / enlivenment
are discussed. For example, can such and such
a product be engaging to the end-user? If so,
how so? If not, why not?
19
THREE LEVELS OF ADJUDICATION

• VIRTUE ETHICS corporate level
• CONCEPTUAL ETHICS professional level
• MATERIAL ETHICS social level

20
THE ETHICS ENGINE
21
Over-all Ethical Assessment of the Engineering
Project

• Integrates all three kinds of ethics.
• Can use as point of departure the over-all value
  function
• J a Jv ß Jc ? Jm
• where a ß ? 1
• and we assume all Js range from -3 to 3.

22
Sub-Value-Functions

• J a Jv ß Jc ? Jm where
• a ß ? 1
• and the sub-value-functions are
• Jv av Jv1 ßv Jv2 ?v Jv3 av ßv
  ?v 1
• Jc ac Jc1 ßc Jc2 ?c Jc3 ac ßc
  ?c 1
• Jm am Jm1 ßm Jm2 ?m Jm3 am ßm
  ?m 1

23
EXAMPLE RFID Design

• Virtue Ethics company ombudsman assesses the
  team effort as caring/honest/fair so we set Jv
  3.
• Conceptual Ethics professional ethics committee
  decides that environment is not compromised but
  social justice can be and health safety is fine
  so we set Jc 1.
• Material Ethics conversation of the lifeworld
  decides there is no resonance of product with
  world, end-user in her world is not enlivened,
  and end-user not engaged with product so we set
  Jm -3 ---- with equal weightings we get
  over-all J 0.333 (not so good, etc)

24

• What would be the major consequence of
  complementing theoretical and practical ethics
  with real ethics? It would be the realization
  that we make our crucial decisions not as
  individuals, as consumers, taxpayers, and voters
  who navigate their course in preestablished and
  rigid channels, but as citizens, and not just
  citizens who pass on matters of civil rights and
  social welfare, but as citizens who take
  responsibility for the large design of our
  culture and either make it hospitable to
  commanding reality or continue to thicken its
  suffocating overlay of disposable
  reality. --- Albert Borgmann