The Ethical Engineer
Description
An exploration of the ethics of practical engineering through analyses of eighteen rich case studies
The Ethical Engineer explores ethical issues that arise in engineering practice, from technology transfer to privacy protection to whistle-blowing. Presenting key ethics concepts and real-life examples of engineering work, Robert McGinn illuminates the ethical dimension of engineering practice and helps students and professionals determine engineers' context-specific ethical responsibilities.
McGinn highlights the "ethics gap" in contemporary engineering-the disconnect between the meager exposure to ethical issues in engineering education and the ethical challenges frequently faced by engineers. He elaborates four "fundamental ethical responsibilities of engineers" (FEREs) and uses them to shed light on the ethical dimensions of diverse case studies, including ones from emerging engineering fields. The cases range from the Union Carbide pesticide plant disaster in India to the Google Street View project. After examining the extent to which the actions of engineers in the cases align with the FEREs, McGinn recapitulates key ideas used in analyzing the cases and spells out the main lessons they suggest. He identifies technical, social, and personal factors that induce or press engineers to engage in misconduct and discusses organizational, legal, and individual resources available to those interested in ethically responsible engineering practice.
Combining probing analysis and nuanced ethical evaluation of engineering conduct in its social and technical contexts, The Ethical Engineer will be invaluable to engineering students and professionals.
- Meets the need for engineering-related ethics study
- Elaborates four fundamental ethical responsibilities of engineers
- Discusses diverse, global cases of ethical issues in established and emerging engineering fields
- Identifies resources and options for ethically responsible engineering practice
- Provides discussion questions for each case
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Content
Preface ix
Chapter 1 The Ethics Gap in Contemporary Engineering 1
Two Vignettes 1
A Gap between Education and Experience 2
Evidence 3
Importance 5
Unfruitful Approaches to Bridging the Gap 7
Preferred Approach 10
Chapter 2 Sociological and Ethical Preliminaries 12
Sociology of Engineering 12
Professional Engineering Society Codes of Ethics 16
Chapter 3 The Fundamental Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers 22
An Ethical Responsibilities Approach 22
Ethical Issues and Harm 23
The Fundamental Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers 26
Chapter 4 Case Studies of Ethical Issues in Engineering 40
Case 1: The Cadillac DeVille/Seville Engine-Control Chip 43
Case 2: SDI Battlefield Management Software 50
Case 3: Collaborative Research Practices at Bell Labs 58
Case 4: The Apple Newton MessagePad 67
Case 5: An Employee Database Management System 73
Case 6: The Citicorp Center Tower 80
Case 7: The Union Carbide Pesticide Plant in Bhopal 92
Case 8: The Space Shuttle Challenger 111
Case 9: A Composite-Material Bicycle Project 124
Case 10: Nanotechnology R&D 137
Case 11: The Ford Pinto 149
Case 12: Topf & Sons: Crematorium Ovens for the Nazi SS 161
Case 13: TRW and the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System 175
Case 14: The Hyatt Regency Kansas City Hotel 187
Case 15: The Manhattan Westway Project 201
Case 16: Innovations for Rural Kenyan Farmers 216
Case 17: Google Street View 228
Case 18: Opioid Biosynthesis and Neural Enhancement 244
Chapter 5 Key Case Ideas and Lessons 265
The Leading Precept in Most Current Codes of Engineering Ethics 265
The FEREs 266
Ethics and the Sociology of Contemporary Engineering 267
An Ethically Problematic Pattern of Engineering Practice 268
Whistleblowing and Ethical Responsibility 269
Risk and the Idealization of Technology in Society 270
Ethical Responsibility and the Culture of the Engineering Workplace 271
An Overlooked Ethical Responsibility of Engineers 272
An Engineering Professional 273
Engineering Design, Paradigm Departure, and the Ethics of Precaution 273
Normalization of Risk and Routinization of the Experimental 274
Technology Transfer and Ethical Responsibility 275
"Two Cultures" and Ethical Responsibility 276
Decontextualization 277
The Politicization and Economization of Engineering Decision-Making 278
Negligence 278
Workplace Culture and the Ethically Responsible Engineer 279
Conflicts of Interest 280
"Design for . . ." 282
Ethical Issues in Engineering Research 284
Factors Conducive to Engineering Misconduct 286
Chapter 6 Resources and Options for Ethically Responsible Engineers 288
Organizational Resources 288
Legal Resources and Options 294
Employment-Related Options 299
Chapter 7 Conclusion 302
Bucciarelli's Critique of U.S. Engineering-Ethics Education 302
A Foundational-Contextual
Ethical Responsibilities Approach 307
Two Quotations 310
Bibliography 313
Index 329
