Engineering Ethics

Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev

6168-F
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
 Engineering Ethics
• Standards and Values for an Engineer
• Engineers and Public Interest
• Professional Information in Engineering

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 Engineering
• Engineering – Applied Science and
Mathematics
• Designing, Constructing, and Manufacturing -
Cars, Airplanes, Bridges, Weapons, Toys,
Engines
• Cost, Time, and Safety of product in
Engineering Profession determines the utility
of product in the market

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 Engineering – The Definition
Engineering is a profession in which
knowledge of the mathematical and natural
sciences is applied with a judgment to develop
ways to utilize, economically, the material and
forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.

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 An Engineer
• An engineer with a background in
mathematics, physical sciences, and
engineering sciences interrelates engineering
principles with economic, social, legal,
aesthetic, environmental and ethical issues.
• He plans, predicts, systematizes and evaluates
since he is a designer, conceptualizer, and
developer, all to meet societal needs at a local
or global level.

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 Engineering Ethics
• Engineering ethics requires familiarity with
the kinds of issues in engineering practice that
may call for ethical reasoning.
• Ethical reasoning pertains to an understanding
of an engineer of the concepts and principles
(such as happiness, duty, and virtue) that are
essential to ethical approach in the making
and delivery of an engineering product.

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 Standards and Values for an Engineer

• Standards are proven benchmarks of

engineering pertaining to productivity, safety,
efficiency, comfort, and profit.

• Values are beliefs assigning importance to

something material or non-material such as
integrity, honesty, objectivity, fairness, care,
courage and impartiality.

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 Integrity
• Integrity is a cardinal value that a person may
aspire to possess. It is derived from the Latin
word integer, which means wholeness.

• It personifies righteousness that is gradually

built along with the values of honesty,
objectivity, fairness, courage and impartiality
of a person.

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 Integrity of an Engineer
• An engineer requires integrity to meet
the challenges posed by the standards of
productivity, safety, efficiency, comfort,
and profit as they exist in the
engineering profession.
• Integrity of an engineer helps him to
adhere to and prioritize standards of his
profession.
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 Ethically Examined Human Life
• To possess integrity, an engineer is required
to live an ethically examined human life – a
conscious stepping back and examining one’s
own likings, desires, judgments, and actions
on a scale of good or bad, right or wrong.

• It enables him to live a worthy human life and

to contribute in giving a positive shape and
direction to the engineering profession for the
well being of mankind.

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 A Concluding Remark

The value-oriented practice of engineering does

enable an engineer to adhere to and prioritize
standards of engineering to attain the goal of well-
being of society, mankind and the planet earth.

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 Thank you.

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