Exam 1 Summary

 Skills to reflect carefully on moral issues:

o moral awareness
o moral reasoning
o moral coherence
o respect for persons
o tolerance of diversity
o integrity
 Services provided by engineers are expected to exhibit a high standard of:
o honesty
o integrity
o impartiality
o fairness
o equity


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Services should be dedicated to the protection of the public health safety and welfare
 Fundamental cannons:
o Hold paramount the safety health and welfare of the public
o Perform services only in areas of their competence
o Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner
o Act as a faithful agent and trustees for the employer
o avoid deceptive acts
o conduct themselves honorably, respectively, etc. to enhance the honor of the profession
 not everything legal is ethical
 to solve a moral problem, we need to identify:
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o the facts
o the concepts (Example public health)
o the applications
 resolving techniques:
o Line drawing: list the factors and place an X or a circled X In the appropriate location for each
factor
o creative middleware solution: adjust the line drawing to satisfy the factors
 the basic pillars of common morality are virtues:
o honesty
o loyalty
o striving for excellence
 two common morality models:
o utilitarian: the greatest good for the greatest number of people
o respect for persons model: Regard each person as worth of respect
 utilitarian:
o cost benefit approach: assess in monetary terms
 respect for persons’ model:
o Golden rule approach: what if it was me
o self-defeating: universalize it. if it defeats its purpose then it is not good
o Rights approach: prioritizing rights
 New York Times test: can your actions withstand the scrutiny of a newspaper reporter
 to solve an ethical problem, we should identify the:
o factual issues
o conceptual issues
o moral issues
 engineers gain trust by:
o committing themselves to applicable design standards - quality of work
o exhibiting perseverance
o communicating clearly and informatively
o accepting and correcting mistakes
o committing to objectivity
o seeing the big picture as well as details
 standard of care: the highest shared standard among competent and responsible engineers in the relevant areas
of practice
 legal liability: warranting punishment for harm done
 levels of liability (from the strongest):

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o intent
o recklessness
o negligence
 problem of many hands: harm caused by a group of people, but none can be held responsible for the outcome
 active responsibility: before something has happened
 passive responsibility: after something undesirable has happened
 moral responsibility: based on one’s obligations, norms, or duties (beyond roles)
 professional responsibility: based on one's role as a professional
 accountability: backward looking responsibility in the sense of being held to account to one's actions

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blameworthiness: backward looking responsibility in the sense of being a proper target of blame for one's
actions
 ideals which are motivating and inspiring for a person to have
 effectiveness: the issue between the goal achieved and the effort required
 models to deal with potential conflict with managers:
o separatism: engineers should apply the technical input, but appropriate management should make
the value decision
o Tripartite model: Engineers can only be held responsible for the design and not for the wider
social consequences (three segments: politicians - engineers - users)
o Technocracy: engineers should take the role of managers
 technocracy is problematic because:
o it is not clear what unique expertise engineers possess to lay claim to the role of technocrats
o paternalism: making decisions for others on the assumption that one knows better what is good
for them than the others themselves
 Whistle blowing: an employee discloses certain abuses in the company he/she is employed in without the
consent of the superiors in order to remedy these abuses
 Guidelines for whistle blowing:
o the company should do a serious or considerable harm to the public
o The would be whistleblower has identified the threat of harm reported to the immediate superior
concluded that the superior will do nothing effective
o The would be whistleblower has contacted higher authority in the company
o The would be whistleblower has evidence that would convince the public about the threat
o The would be whistleblower has a good reason to believe that revealing the threat will prevent
the harm at a reasonable cost
 collective responsibility: responsibility of a collective group
 distribution of responsibility: the allocation of individual responsibilities to various actors
 moral fairness requirements: the requirement that distribution of responsibility should be fair
 effectiveness requirement: responsibility should be distributed to the best consequences in preventing harm
 To objectively assess risk:
o identify it
o quantify it

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 the engineer's definition of risk = the likelihood of an event occurring * the magnitude of the resulting harm
 to determine if the risk is acceptable engineers use cost benefit approach
 limitations of cost benefit approach in risk assessment:
o it is not possible to anticipate all the effects so the cost benefit approach may lead to unreliable
results
o it is not always easy to translate all the risks and benefits into monetary terms
o makes no allowance for distribution of costs and benefits
o gives no room for informed consent to the risk imposed
 An important ethical consideration in accepting risk is the degree to which risks and benefits are justly
distributed:
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o personal risks: risks that only affect an individual
o collective risk: risk that affects the collective public and not just individuals
 strategies to ensure safe products:
o inherently safe design
o safety factor
o negative feedback mechanism: A mechanism that shuts down the device if the operator loses
control
o multiple independent safety barriers: a chain of safety barriers that operate independently from
each other so that if one fails the others do not necessarily fail
 Risk assessment: A systematic investigation in which the risks of a technology of an activity are mapped and
expressed quantitatively in a certain risk measure.
 Steps of risk assessment:
o Release Assessment: Releases are any physical effects that can lead to harm and that originate in
a technical installation. (Example radiation)
o Exposure Assessment: In this step the aim is to predict the exposure of vulnerable subjects like
human beings to certain releases, through certain mechanisms (Example: inhalation of toxic
substances by humans, the intensity, frequency, and duration of the exposure)
o Consequence Assessment: In the third step, the focus is on determining the relationship between
exposure and harmful consequences. Acute harm or number of direct fatalities. Long term effects
on health. An important part of this step is usually the determining of dose response relationships
o Risk Estimation In this step we determine in what measure the risk is expressed, (example the
reduced lifespan of people that work or live in the neighborhood of an installation)
 Types of errors in risk assessment:
o Type I error: The mistake that one assumes a risk when there is actually no risk
o Type II error: The mistake that one assumes that there is no risk while there actually is a risk
 Informed consent: Principle that states that activities (experiments, risks) are acceptable if people have freely
consented to them after being fully informed about the (potential) risks and benefits of these activities
 risk communicators: Specialists that inform, or advise how to inform, the public about risks and hazards
 Societal Experiments: the introduction of new technology in society as a societal experiment if the final testing
of possible hazards and risks of a technology and its functioning take place by the actual implementation of a
technology in society.
 Societal experiments should be approved by democratically legitimized bodies
 Few issues with informed consent:
o whether it makes sense to ask people to consent to uncertain hazards
o is the principle not too restrictive? As soon as one individual objects to a certain societal
experiment, it should be abandoned even if this experiment might bring large benefits to the rest
of society.

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o how to deal with people who are indirectly involved in the experiment but are not able to give
their informed consent (example future generations)
 Forms of dishonesty:
o Lying: Knowingly convey false or misleading information
o Deliberate Deception: Implying knowledge one does not have claiming something in a deceitful
manner
o Withholding Information: Showing one aspect only, instead of the full picture, especially in
engineering research. Not discussing negative points
o Failure to seek the Truth: An Honest Engineer is someone who is committed to finding the truth
rather than simply avoiding dishonesty
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 Forms of dishonesty in engineering research and testing:
o Falsification: Falsification of data involves distorting data by smoothing out irregularities or
presenting only those data which fit one’s theory
o Fabrication: involves inventing data and even reporting results of experiments that were never
conducted
o Plagiarism: Is the use of intellectual property of others without proper permission or credit.
 Engineers can mishandle client confidentiality in two ways:
o Breaking confidentiality when not warranted
o Refusal to break confidentiality when higher obligation to the public obliges so
 intellectual property: It is the property that results from mental labor
o It can be protected by many ways including:
 Trade Secrets: Formulas, Info
 Patents: Protection issued by authority for protection
 Copyrights: Books, Graphics, Music
 Trademarks: Words, Phrases, Symbols
 Engineers have to be immune against perjury or withholding information during testimony by:
o Having adequate time for investigation
o Approaching the matter with good conscience
o Consult extensively with lawyers to explain technical details of case & prepare for cross
examination
o Being objective and unbiased
o Being open to new information during course of trial