Review
Tools for Success in the Classroom
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Ethics
 Is an action (or inaction) right or wrong?
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Objectives
 Understand the meaning of two ethical theories
(utilitarianism and duty/rights)
 Understand the SUNYIT code of ethics as it relates to
your actions as a student
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Ethics and Morals
 Science: understanding the world
 Engineering: changing the world
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Personal Ethics Discussion
 Where does your ethical “structure” come from?
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Utilitarianism (John Stuart Mill)
 Actions are good if they serve to maximize human
well-being
 Focus is on maximizing the well-being of society as a
whole (even though individuals can be negatively
impacted)
 Negatives:
 No emphasis on individuals
 Must know what leads to the ‘greater good”
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Utilitarianism-Two Types
 Act
 Individual actions
 Rules can be broken if it leads to the most good
 Rule
 Moral rules are important
 Adhering to the rules ultimately leads to the most good
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Duty Ethics (Immanuel Kant)
 Actions are good when they respect the rights of
individuals
 List of duties that respect individuals
 Individuals have fundamental rights that others have a
duty to respect
 Negatives
 How do you resolve individual versus group conflicts?
 Doesn’t account for overall good
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Business & Personal Ethics
 Business—Choices on an organizational level
 Personal—Choices on an individual level
 Is there overlap????
 Should there be overlap???
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Ethics and Law
 Ethical and legal
 Ethical but illegal
 Law not yet changed to reflect new realities
 Legal but not ethical
 Law not yet changed to reflect new realities
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SUNYIT Code of Conduct
http://www.sunyit.edu/pdf/student_handbook.pdf
 Plagiarism
 Inappropriate collaboration
 Dishonesty in examinations
 Dishonesty in papers and reports
 Work done for one course and submitted to another
 Falsification of data
 Interference with another student’s work
 Copyright violation
 Other Miscellaneous
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Codes of Ethics
 Professional Societies
 IEEE
 NSPE
 ASME
 ASCE
 AIChE
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Ethics Homework (Individual)
 Have you observed students cheating?
 How did they cheat?
 Whey did they cheat?
 What could the instructor have done to prevent the
cheating?
 What punishments do you think are appropriate for
cheating?
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Ethics Assignment (Teams of 2)
 Choose a case study (civil or mechanical) and prepare
a .ppt presentation for next week. Include:
 Background information
 Questions and your answers
 Discussion of your answers versus the answers provided
on the website
 Reference:
http://wadsworth.com/philosophy_d/templates/student_resources/0534605796_harris/cases/C
ases.htm#NSF%20Cases
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