Engineering Ethics
UC Santa Cruz – CMPE 80E – Spring 2007
TR 10:00 – 11:45 AM
Kresge 327
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmpe080e/Spring07/
SYLLABUS
Instructor: Gene Moriarty
Office: Baskin Engineering Building 157B
Office Phone: 831.459.3691
Email: gene@soe.ucsc.edu
Office Hours: TR 8:30 – 10:00 AM
Text
Gene Moriarty, The Engineering Project: Its Nature, Ethics, and Promise, (referred to as
EP), Penn State University Press, 2007. (although the text will not be published until
October 2007, with the permission of the publishers, we can use the draft available at the
course website)
Other readings will be available on the WEB or at the course website.
Overview of the course
CMPE80E (Engineering Ethics) looks at engineering ethics in particular and the
engineering project in general in their historical and philosophical contexts. The course
stresses ethical theories and analysis and their application to issues in the practice of
engineering, such as safety and liability, professional responsibility to clients and
employers, codes of ethics, legal obligations, environmental issues, and social issues.
Through the use of case studies, the course emphasizes developing independent ethical
sensitivity and a moral imagination.
Required Skills to pass the course
1. Should be able to critically read and analyze written information, including:
• Critically read descriptions and data for biased information.
• Analyze the information in a written description to identify the factual issues
and conceptual issues, determine the obligations and responsibilities of the actors, assess
the relevant ethical values.
• Based on the ethical analysis, propose possible solutions using an articulated
ethical position/theory.
2. Should be able to form an opinion based on a reasoned ethical position. This opinion
must be supported with facts and evidence to further the weight of the opinion being
expressed.
3. Show development of an awareness of the ethical component of daily engineering
decisions.
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Core topics
1. Ethical Theories and Analysis
• Virtue Ethics
• Process Ethics
• Material Ethics
2. Safety, risk, and liability
3. Professionalism
• Responsibility to clients
• Responsibility to employers
• Work place issues
4. Codes of Ethics
• ACM
• IEEE
5. Legal Obligations
• Whistle blowing
• Intellectual Property
• Professional Integrity
6. Environmental Ethics
7. Social Impact of Technology
8. Engineering and Sustainable Development
Evaluation Criteria:
Percentage
b
Class participation and in-class writing and group exercises, homework
assignments and responses.
c
Research Exercise 1 (minimum 1000 words, 3-5 pages D.S.)
d
Research Exercise 2 (minimum 1000 words, 3 -5 pages D.S.)
f
Midterm Exam
g
Final Exam
Total
40
15
15
10
20
100
Course Schedule
Almost every week we will have
1)
an in-class writing exercise (½ page, 125 words),
2)
an in-class group exercise (forming into small groups of 4-5 students, discuss a
handout from the literature and have the group’s spokesperson report to the class, with
each student having the opportunity to report at least once during the quarter),
3)
a take-home writing exercise (1 page, 250 words) assigned on Thursday and due
the following Tuesday.
Feedback regarding form and content will be provided on all the writing assignments in
an on-going fashion. Along with class participation, these three weekly exercises will
constitute 40% of your grade.
Week 1 – Introduction and Overview
Goal: to introduce myself and have you do the same / to consider the micro and macro
perspectives on the engineering project and the three types of ethics to be looked at in this
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class / to discuss case studies in engineering ethics / to introduce “The Ethics Engine” / to
have an in-class group exercise / to have a half-page in-class written response to course
material.
Readings due: none.
Assignments (due next week): read EP Introduction and Chapter 1 (Process) / write
(type) a one-page critique of the EP Introduction.
Week 2 – Ethics Video and Case Study Analysis
Goal: to present a case study in dramatized form and have you analyze and write a ½
page in-class response to the ethical issues via the three types of ethics / to discuss the
fundamental constituents of the process of the modern engineering enterprise:
engineering science, engineering design, and engineering professionalism / to have an inclass group exercise.
Readings (due this week): EP Introduction and Chapter 1 (Process).
Assignments (due next week): EP Chapter 2 (Process Ethics) / read the essay (at the
website) “Engineering Ethics and Political Imagination,” Winner, Langdon, Broad and
Narrow Interpretations of Philosophy of Technology, P. T. Durbin (ed.), 1990 / write a
one-page critique of what Winner has to say about the use of Case Studies in engineering
ethics classes. Research Exercise #1 will be assigned for which details will be provided
(due in 3 weeks).
Week 3 – Professionalism and Processes of the Engineering Project
Goal: to discuss and critique Winner’s position on engineering ethics / to understand and
discuss the fundamental elements of a profession and how engineering can be taken as a
profession / to appreciate the need for a profession to embrace a sense of obligation and
thereby be guided by a system of ethics / to have an in-class group exercise / to have a
half-page in-class written response to course material.
Readings (due this week): the Winner essay / EP Chapter 2 (Process Ethics).
Assignment (due next week): read the short piece (at the website) “Ingredients of
Professionalism: A Panel Discussion,” from Proceedings of the 1985 Summer Computer
Simulation Conference / write a one page defense of professionalism in light of its
sometimes negative portrayal / read the essays (a the webcite) “Three Myths about Codes
of Engineering Ethics,” Davis, Michael, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 2001
and “The Public Health, Safety and Welfare,” McFarland, Michael, IEEE Technology
and Society Magazine
Week 4 – Engineering Codes and Process Ethics
Goal: to understand the rather long-winded ACM Code of Ethics and the succinct IEEE
Code / to show how these codes can be applied to case studies / to understand
fundamental ethical theories like deontology and consequentialism / to show how these
theories are embedded in codes of ethics / to appreciate the need to embrace the health,
safety, and welfare of society as paramount / to have an in-class group exercise / to have
a half-page in-class written response to course material.
Readings (due this week): the professionalism discussion / EP Chapter 2 / the essays
assigned last week.
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Assignment (due next class): read the essays (at the website) “Rules, Ethics and Morals
in Engineering Education,” Vesilind, P. Aarne, Engineering Education, 1988 and “The
Concept of Sustainable Development: its Origins and Ambivalence,” Mitcham, Carl,
Technology in Society, 1995 / write a pithy page summarizing the codes of ethics for the
ACM and IEEE and explain why engineers need these codes.
Week 5 – Further Discussion of Process Ethics
Goal: to understand how the value of health & safety operates within the process ethics
framework / to understand how the value of environmental sustainability operates within
the process ethics framework / to understand how the value of social justice operates
within the process ethics framework / to have an in-class group exercise / to write a halfpage in-class response to course material / to hand in Research Exercise #1.
Readings (due this week): the essays assigned last week.
Assignment (due next week): read EP Chapters 3 and 6 then write one page explaining
your understanding of the difference between Technological Determinism and Social
Constructionism / read the essay (at the website) “Collectivist and Individual Moral
Responsibility in Engineering: Some Questions,” Ladd, John, in Social, Ethical , and
Policy Implications of Engineering, ed. Joseph R. Herkert, 2000.
Week 6– The Shift from a Micro View to a Macro View and Back
Goal: to understand the Technological Determinism vs. Social Constructionism debate /
to understand the contextualization and colonization distinction / to discuss the shift from
process in the modern engineering enterprise to person in the pre-modern engineering
endeavor / to have an in-class group exercise / to write a half-page in-class response to
course material / to have a MIDTERM EXAM.
Readings (due this week): EP Chapters 3 and 6 / the Ladd essay.
Assignments (due next week), read EP Chapters 4 and 5 / read the essays “The
Technological Personality,” Stivers, Richard, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society,
2004 and “Platonic Virtue Theory and Business Ethics,” Klein, Sherwin, Business &
Professional Ethics Journal, 1989 (at the website) / write one page explaining what
Stivers means by the quote from Ellul that “reflex supplants reflection” in the modern
era. Research Exercise #2 will be assigned to be due in 3 weeks.
Week 7 – The Person of the Engineer and Virtue Ethics
Goal: to understand who the engineer is, her or his personality and character / to
understand the structures of being-toward, being-with, and being-for grounding the
virtues of objectivity, honesty, and care / to have an in-class group exercise / to write a
half-page in-class response to course material.
Readings (due this week): EP chapters 4 and 5 / the Stivers and Klein essays.
Assignments: read “A Different Voice by Carol Gilligan” essay (at the website) and write
a page summarizing her stance against Kohlberg / read EP Chapter 7 (Product).
Week 8 – Products of the Engineering Process
Goal: to understand what the products of the engineering process are / how these products
can be Focal Products / to inquire about these systems, services, structures, devices,
organisms, and networks which are being let loose upon the planet: are they good
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products? Do they fulfill and engage our lives in a deep and meaningful manner? / to
have an in-class group exercise / to write a half-page in-class response to course material.
Readings (due this week): EP Chapter 7 (Product) and the Gilligan essay.
Assignments (due next week): EP chapters 8 and 9 (Material Ethics and Balance) / write
one page showing how material ethics can make a difference in your life.
Week 9 – Material Ethics
Goal: to understand how the idea of The Good, which focal products strive for, invokes a
wider context which might include political, cultural, and spiritual dimensions / case
studies on the cell phone and RFID devices / to understand material ethics of the product
/ to understand the different kinds of harmony: engagement, enlivenment, and resonance /
to be able to relate these to the product, the world, and the end-user / to have an in-class
group exercise / to write a half-page in-class response to course material / to hand in
Research Exercise #2.
Readings (due this week): EP Chapters 8 and 9.
Assignments (due next week): read the essay “The Good Life in a Technological World:
Focal Things and Practices in the West and in Japan’” Topi Heikkero, Technology in
Society, 2005 (available on-line) / write a one page response to Heillero’s essay and be
prepared to discuss the essay next time.
Week 10 – Further Discussion of Material Ethics
Goal: to understand how engineers can satisfy the tenets of virtue ethics and engineering
can satisfy the tenets of process ethics but the engineered product can still be ethically
problematic / to deepen our understanding of the material ethics of the product via
examples / to elaborate on the Ethics Engine as a quasi-mathematical methodology aimed
at providing a point of departure for the assessment of person, process, and product / to
understand the balance that we seek in focally engineered products / to compare the
Quality of Life with the Standard of Living / to consider the distinction between wealth
and affluence / to have an in-class group exercise / to write a half-page in-class response
to course material.
Readings (due this week): Heillero essay.
Assignments (due next week): prepare for final exam.
Final exam: ten one-paragraph answer essay questions (bring BLUE BOOK).
Grading Information:
90% and above
80% - 90%
70% - 80%
60% - 70%
below 60%
A
B
C
D
F
University-Based Ethics Resources on the Web:
Web Resources: See the following web sites for more materials on engineering ethics
and professionalism:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science: http://onlineethics.org/
National Institute for Engineering Ethics: http://www.niee.org/
Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT: http://ethics.iit.edu/
Association for Practical and Professional Ethics at IU:
http://www.indiana.edu/~appe/
5. IEEE Ethics and Member Conduct Committee:
http://www.ieee.org/organizations/committee/emcc/
6. IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology:
http://policy.rutgers.edu/andrews/projects/ssit/ungercom.shtml
7. Texas A&M Univ. engineering ethics: http://ethics.tamu.edu/
8. NSF Workshops, Teaching Ethics and Computing, K. Bowyer, Univ. Notre
Dame: http://www.cse.nd.edu/~kwb/nsf-ufe/index.html
9. NSPE Board of Ethical Review: http://www.nspe.org/ethics/eh1-whb.asp
10. Ethics Officer Association: http://www.eoa.org/
11. Journal, "Science and Engineering Ethics": http://www.opragen.co.uk/SEE/
12. The WEB cite for Computer Ethics at http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/
Academic Integrity and Social Integrity
UCSC’s policy on Academic Integrity:
http://oasas.ucsc.edu/avcue/integrity/
Please read this policy fully.
Course Policy on Social Integrity
This course will have a lot of thought, reactions and discussions. You will be asked to do
readings and discuss and rate the readings. You will have in and out of class discussions.
The goal is to empower you with a set of ethical standards to help you make decisions as
engineers. We want you to get used to standing up for what you think is correct. But –
and this is important – personal opinion is not enough in this class. You must be able to
provide and state a reasoned and supported position, not your personal opinion. To this
end strong discussions are expected and hoped for. However there is a line of acceptable
behavior, when discussing anything. You are responsible for your conduct in class and
out regardless of circumstances. Actions of disrespect or intolerance towards anyone are
unacceptable in any academic or professional setting. Discrimination on the basis of age,
creed, ethnicity, gender, political views, religion or sexual orientation is not be allowed
and will be dealt with. You can disagree with a person’s view; you can argue that the
ethical basis on which they make their decisions is wrong. But you must do it within the
norms of academic discourse and be civil about it.
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