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ENGINEERING
PROFESSIONALISM AND
ETHICS
EGN 4034
FALL TERM 2008
CHAPTER 3
Engineering Ethics:
FRAMING THE PROBLEM
Analysis Method
Relevant facts (Factual Issues)
 Relevant ethical issues
 (see Figure 3.2)
 Unknown Facts
 Conceptual Issues

WE MAY AGREE




We usually experience moral
disagreement and controversy within a
context of agreement.
The OSHA case illustrates this.
Both OSHA and the Supreme Court felt
that safety of the workers was important.
They didn’t agree however (conceptual
issue) on the definition of “Safe”
WE MAY AGREE
This is important.
 If we first determine what we do
agree upon.
 We do this by asking questions.
 We may find that when we eliminate
those things we agree upon
 We can more easily focus on the real
problem or issue.

WE MAY AGREE

When we look at agreement, we must
also consider what we agree to that
is:
Unclear
 Or simply unknown

Common Morality
That common stock of moral beliefs.
 Just as we agree on what is
“common sense”
 We all have a common stock of basic
beliefs we feel should guide our
lives:

Moral standards
 Rules
 principles

Common Morality
We believe that murder is wrong
 But we also agree that murder does
occur
 and that it is wrong.
 We may observe that an engineer
has failed to report a conflict of
interest
 And agree that this is wrong.

Common Morality





Although we agree on common morality
Moral disagreement often occurs.
This raises the question
Can we isolate the major factors that
account for this?
Differences occur with respect to beliefs
about “specific” practices or issues:





Abortion
Euthanasia
Sexual orientation
Capital punishment
Etc.
Common Moral Traits

What would we like to see in others?
Fair-mindedness
 Self-respect
 Respect for others
 Compassion
 Benevolence

What other traits would you like to
see?
 Do most of us share these desires?

Moral Rules?
With our Common Moral beliefs, can
we develop a set of Moral Rules for
all people to go by?
 We do this as a society

Through laws
 Through group norms
 Through CODES as professionals


Breaking the rules always has
consequences.
TYPES OF MORLITY

THERE ARE THREE BASIC KINDS
OF MORALITY
COMMON MORALITY – Generally
universally accepted
 PERSONAL MORALITY – rules or
principles, rules, or standards we
accept as individuals but are not
necessarily shared by others.
 PROFSSIONAL MORALITY – Moral
standards that apply to ones role as a
member of a profession.

TYPES OF MORLITY
Most often we find that there is not a
conflict with applying these three
types of morality.
 Most often we will arrive at the same
answer to a moral question
regardless of which of these three
moral principles we apply.
 However, there can be conflicts
among these moral beliefs.

ANALYZING A CASE
To analyze anything, we must gather
information relevant to the solution
of the ethical problem.
 We first ask:

What are the ethical questions?
 What are the facts?

The facts should be relevant to the
specific ethical questions.
 Do the facts support the ethical
questions?

ANALYZING A CASE

What are the resources we might use
in framing the ethical considerations?
Common Morality
 Professional Codes
 Personal Morality
 Comprehensive principles of ethics (later
chapters)

ANALYZING A CASE

FACTUAL ISSUES

Many times moral disagreements turn
out to be disagreements over the
relevant facts.


Without the facts each side only has opinion
Factual Issues are sometimes very
difficult to resolve

We may find that we have all of the available
facts yet there are still unanswered
questions (unknown facts).
ANALYZING A CASE

FACTUAL ISSUES

Once Factual Issues are clearly isolated,
disagreement can reemerge on another
and often more clearly defined level.

We may now find that we don’t disagree on
the facts, but on the definition of some
standard such as “Safe” (Conceptual Issues)
ANALYZING A CASE

CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

This deals with the meaning of terms
What is “Bribery?”
 What is “Safe?”
 What is a “Conflict of Interest?”
 What is “Confidentiality?”
 What is a “Trade Secret?
 What is “Loyalty?”


To determine Conceptual Issues, we
must ask, “What are the important
concepts in our case?”
ANALYZING A CASE

APPLICATOION ISSUES
Once we have determined the facts and
identified the “terms” or “concepts”
 We need to agree if this is, in fact, an
instance of that concept.
 For example, is our moral question really
related to a “conflict of interest” or is it
something else?
 Does the concept we defined describe
our present situation?

Applying Concepts


Line-drawing or paradigm cases is a good
way to analyze ethical issues
We first define the “concept” such as
bribery and agree on:




What are the features of bribery
What is definitely bribery (positive paradigm)
What is definitely not bribery (Negative
paradigm)
Section 4.4 describes this analysis
Applying Concepts
Feature
Bribery
Test Case
Not Bribery
Gift Size
Large
Small≤ $10.00
Timing
Before decision
After Decision
Reason
Personal Gain
Educational
Responsibility
Sole
None
Quality
Worst
Best
Cost
Highest
Lowest
Applying Concepts
Feature
Gift Size
Timing
Reason
Responsibility
Bribery
Test Case
Where does our case
Large
fall on each of these
Before decision
lines?
Personal Gain
Sole
Not Bribery
Small≤ $10.00
After Decision
Educational
None
Quality
Worst
Best
Cost
Highest
Lowest
Review for Analyzing a Moral Problem
Case Statement
 Relevant Facts
 Factual Issues
 Conceptual and Application Issues
 Moral Issues
 Analysis

Moral Problem Analysis





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What is the Case Statement?
Define the Relevant Facts
Define Factual Issues if any
Define Conceptual and Application Issues
Define Moral Issues
Analyze the case based on the information
you’ve developed
Can a “Line Drawing” help resolve the
issue?