ME-310 Ethical & Legal Dimensions

of Engineering

Course Instructor/s:
Dr. Naveed Ahmad
Engr. Muhammad Arsalan Khan
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Moral Reasoning & Codes of Ethics

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Intro and Learning Objectives:
▪ Ethical (or moral) dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons
come into conflict, or in which the applications of moral values are
unclear, and it is not immediately obvious what should be done.
▪ Ethical dilemmas arise in engineering, as elsewhere, because moral
values are many and varied and can prove to be the most difficult
occasions for moral reasoning.
▪ We shall begin by illustrating how choices involving moral values
enter into routine decisions during technological development,
punctuated by periodic moral dilemmas.
▪ Next we will discuss some aspects (or steps) needed in resolving
ethical dilemmas, drawing on the resources of applicable codes of
ethics.
▪ Later we will discuss additional roles of professional codes of ethics
and comment on some possible limitations in relying solely on codes
for moral guidance.

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 Design of Aluminum Cans

▪ Design and use of Aluminum Can in 1958

▪ Design improvements (bottom dish shape, thermal expansion)
▪ Use of separate can openers
▪ Detachable lever type can openers (Pull Tabs)
▪ This lead to an unanticipated crisis, creating an ethical dilemma
leading to the implications of billions of discarded pull tabs
causing pollution, foot injuries, and harm to fish and infants who
ingested them.
The dilemma was what to do to balance usefulness to consumers with protection of the
environment. A technological innovation solved the dilemma in a manner that integrated all
the relevant values. In 1976 Daniel F. Cudzik invented a simple, stay-attached opener of the
sort familiar today. Once again, minor design improvements came as problems were
identified. Indeed, the search for improvements continues today because people with arthritic
fingers or long and breakable fingernails have difficulty using the current openers. All the
while, of course, the broader problem of pollution from cans themselves prompted recycling
programs that now recycle more than six out of ten 1-4
Case Study of a Chemical Engineer

▪ A chemical engineer working in the environmental division of a

computer manufacturing firm learns that her company might be
discharging unlawful amounts of lead and arsenic into the city
sewer. The city processes the sludge into a fertilizer used by
local farmers.
▪ To ensure the safety of both the discharge and the fertilizer, the
city imposes restrictive laws on the discharge of lead and
arsenic. Preliminary investigations convince the engineer that
the company should implement stronger pollution controls, but
her supervisor tells her the cost of doing so, is prohibitive and
that technically the company is in compliance with the law. She
is also scheduled to appear before town officials to testify in the
matter. What should she do?
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Steps in Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

Reasonable solutions to ethical dilemmas possess

certain steps. By “steps” we do not mean single-file
movements, but instead activities that are carried out
jointly and in repeating patterns.
▪ Moral clarity: Identify the relevant moral values.
▪ Conceptual clarity: Be clear about key concepts
▪ Informed about the facts: Obtain relevant
information.
▪ Informed about the options: Consider all (realistic)
options
▪ Well-reasoned: Make a reasonable decision

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 Steps in Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
1. Moral clarity: Identify the relevant moral values. The most
basic step in confronting ethical dilemmas is to become
aware of them! This means identifying the moral values and
reasons applicable in the situation, and bearing them in
mind as further investigations are made. These values and
reasons might be obligations, rights, goods, ideals (which
might be desirable but not mandatory), or other moral
considerations.
2. Conceptual clarity: Be clear about key concepts.
Professionalism requires being a faithful agent of one’s
employer, but does that mean doing what one’s supervisor
directs or doing what is good for the corporation in the long
run? These might be different things, in particular when
one’s supervisor is adopting a short-term view that could
harm the long-term interests of the corporation.
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 Steps in Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
3. Informed about the facts: Obtain relevant information. This
means gathering information that is pertinent in light of the
applicable moral values (as identified in step 1). Sometimes the
primary difficulty in resolving moral dilemmas is uncertainty about
the facts, rather than conflicting values.
4. Informed about the options: Consider all (realistic) options.
Initially, ethical dilemmas seem to force us into a two-way choice:
Do this or do that. Either bow to a supervisor’s orders or blow the
whistle to the town authorities. A closer look often reveals
additional options.
5. Well-reasoned: Make a reasonable decision. Arrive at a
carefully reasoned judgment by weighing all the relevant moral
reasons and facts. This is not a mechanical process that a computer
or algorithm might do for us. Instead, it is a deliberation aimed at
integrating all the relevant reasons, facts, and values—in a morally
reasonable manner.
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Discussion Questions

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Discussion Questions

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 Role and Importance of Codes
Codes of ethics state the moral responsibilities of engineers as
seen by the profession and as represented by a professional
society. Because they express the profession’s collective
commitment to ethics, codes are enormously important, not only
in stressing engineers’ responsibilities but also in supporting the
freedom needed to meet them. Codes of ethics play at least eight
of the following essential roles:
1. Serving and protecting the public.
2. Guidance.
3. Inspiration.
4. Shared standards.
5. Support for responsible professionals
6. Education and mutual understanding
7. Deterrence and discipline
8. Contributing to the profession’s image 1-11
 Role and Importance of Codes
1. Serving and protecting the public. Engineering involves
advanced expertise that professionals have and the public lacks, A
code of ethics functions as a commitment by the profession as a
whole that engineers will serve the public health, safety, and welfare.
2. Guidance. Codes provide helpful guidance by articulating the
main obligations of engineers. Because codes should be brief to be
effective, they offer mostly general guidance. Nonetheless, when well
written, they identify primary responsibilities.
3. Inspiration. Because codes express a profession’s collective
commitment to ethics, they provide a positive stimulus for ethical
conduct in promoting the safety, health & welfare of the public.
4. Shared standards. The diversity of moral viewpoints among
individual engineers makes it essential that professions establish
explicit standards, in particular minimum (but hopefully high)
standards. In this way, the public is assured of a standard of and
Codes of Ethics excellence on which it can depend. 1-12
 Role and Importance of Codes
5. Support for responsible professionals. Codes give positive
support to professionals seeking to act ethically. A publicly
proclaimed code allows an engineer, under pressure to act
unethically, to say: “I am bound by the code of ethics of my
profession”.
6. Education and mutual understanding. Codes can be used by
professional societies and in the classroom to prompt discussion and
reflection on moral issues.
7. Deterrence and discipline. Codes can also serve as the formal
basis for investigating unethical conduct. Where such investigation
is possible, a deterrent for immoral behavior is thereby provided.
8. Contributing to the profession’s image. Codes can present a
positive image to the public of an ethically committed profession.
Where warranted, the image can help engineers more effectively
serve the public. The reputation of a profession is essential in
sustaining the trust of the public. 1-13
 Abuse of Codes
▪ Codes are no substitute for individual responsibility in grappling
with concrete dilemmas. Most codes are restricted to general
wording, and hence inevitably contain substantial shady areas
and Codes of Ethics of vagueness.
▪ Thus, they may not be able to straightforwardly address all
situations. Other uncertainties can arise when different entries in
codes come into conflict with each other.
▪ Usually codes provide little guidance as to which entry should
have priority in those cases. On rare occasions, abuses have
discouraged moral conduct and caused serious harm to those
seeking to serve the public. For example, two engineers were
expelled from American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for
violating a section of its code forbidding public remarks critical of
other engineers. Yet the actions of those engineers were
essential in uncovering a major bribery scandal related to the
construction of a dam for Los Angeles County. 1-14
 Limitations of Codes
▪ Codes are no substitute for individual responsibility in grappling
with concrete dilemmas. Most codes are restricted to general
wording, and hence inevitably contain substantial areas and
Codes of Ethics of vagueness. Thus, they may not be able to
straightforwardly address all situations.
▪ A further limitation of codes results from their proliferation. The
existence of separate codes for different professional
engineering societies can give members the feeling that ethical
conduct is more relative and variable than it actually is.
▪ Most important, despite their authority in guiding professional
conduct, codes are not always the complete and final word.
Codes can be flawed.

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Homework

▪ Study Ethical Relativism and search for

some relevant case studies.

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