UNIT II ENGINEERING ETHICS

Senses of “Engineering Ethics‟ – Variety of moral issues – Types of inquiry – Moral dilemmas – Moral
Autonomy – Kohlberg‟s theory – Gilligan‟s theory – Consensus and Controversy – Models of
professional roles - Theories about right action – Self-interest – Customs and Religion – Uses of Ethical
Theories

2.1. What is Ethics?

✓ The term 'ethics' is derived from the Greek word ‘ e t h o s ’ , which meant 'customs'.
✓ Ethics· is the study of the characteristics of morals.
✓ First of all, ethics is the quest for and the understanding of the good life, living well,
a life worth living.
✓ In a wider perspective, ethics is putting every activity and goal In its place. It is
concerned with knowing what Is worth doing and what Is not worth doing; knowing what
is worth wanting and knowing what is not worth wanting.
✓ Ethics according to the Oxford advanced dictionary means moral principles that govern or
Inftuence • person's behavior.
✓ Ethics is defined as the discipline dealing with what is good and bad with moral duty and
obligation (responsibility)
✓ Some of the universal accepted ethical principles are :
o Integrity, honesty, confidentiality, discipline, humanity, responsibility, accountability,
discipline, loyalty, diligence, wisdom, courage, collegiability, conscientiousness,
competency, temperance, justice, etc.
✓ Various Disciplines Of Ethics
The term 'ethics' is a broad, general term. In practice, there different disciplines of ethics. They
are:
✓ Personal Ethics
• Personal ethics is concerned with the rules by which an individual lives his or her
personal life.
• It also deals with how we treat others in our day-to-day lives.
✓ Business Ethics
• Business ethics is concerned with truth and justice and has a variety of aspects such
as the expectation of society, fair competition, advertising, public relationa, social
responsibilities, consumer autonomy, and corporate behavior .
• It involves choices on an organization level rather than a personal level.

✓ Engineering Ethics
• Engineering ethics is concerned with the rules and standards governing the
conduct of engineers in their role as professionals.
• It is a body of philosophy guiding tt,e ways that engineers should conduct
themselves in their professional capacity.
✓ Medical Ethics
✓ Medical ethics is concerned with the rules and standards governing the conduct of
doctors and other medical practitioners in their role as professionals
✓ Legal Ethics
✓ Legal ethics is concerned with the codes that guide the professional conduct of
lawyers, judges, etc.

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✓ Accounting Ethics
✓ Accounting ethics is concerned with the codes that guide the professional conduct
of accountants.
2.2. What is engineering ethics?
✓ Engineering ethics Is concerned with:
• The study of the moral issues and decisions confronting mdlvidual and
organizations engaged in engineering field; and
• The study of related issues about the moral ideals, characters, policies, an .
relationships of people and corporations involved In technological activity
• It refers to the ethical obligations that engineers have to follow because of their
professional status.
• It not only emphasizes how engineers should conduct themselves; it also
encompasses how the engineers ought to be having in their professional world
• Definition: Engineering ethics may be defined as the identification, study and
resolution of ethical problems occurring in the practice of the
engineering profession .
• The concept of engineering ethics is not applicable only for engineers. It can also
be applied to others who engage in any technological enterprises, such as
scientists, technicians, technical writers, production staffs, supervisors, sales
staffs, doctors, lawyers, and the general public.
✓ Engineering Ethics Vs Professional Ethics
• In general, the terms engineering ethics and professional ethics are
used interchangeably. But the professional ethics is wider in scope than the
engineering ethics. In fact, the engineering ethics is a part of professional
ethics.
• Professional ethics is the discipline aimed at understanding the moral values that
ought to guide all professional practices, including engineering, medicine, law
and other practices. But the engineering ethics refers to the set of specific
moral problems and issues related to engineering profession only
✓ Why it is necessary for Engineering students to study Engineering Ethics?
o Stimulating the moral Dimension
▪ It is to stimulate the moral imagination of engineering students
▪ Imagination is necessary for Engineers in anticipating the consequences of
actions as professionals and in finding solutions to ethical problems
encountered in their professional life
o Recognizing ethical issues
▪ The ethical problems encountered in engineering practice, often are very
complex. Also they involve conflicting ethical principles
o Developing analytical skills
▪ The technical and analytical skills required for analyzing moral issues are quite
different than that are exercising good engineering projects
▪ While analyzing moral issues, one requires clear thinking about concepts
such as utility, justice, rights, duties, and respect for persons
▪ The aim of engineering ethics is to train the engineers to analyze complex
problems.

o Drawing out of sense of responsibility

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▪ The engineering ethics course encourages the engineers to desire to fulfill

ethical ideals rather than ethical requirements
▪ Ethical requirements Vs Ethical Ideals: Ethical requirements are basic
obligations and duties. Thus engineering ethics promotes a sense of
responsibility and the moral autonomy of future engineers.
o Addressing unclarity, uncertainty, and disagreement
▪ The engineering ethics helps the engineers In addressing unclarity,
uncertainty, and disagreement about moral issues.
▪ As we know, resolving ethical issues expose a certain amount of
vagueness, ambiguity, uncertainty, and disagreement. The study of
engineering ethics helps engineers to learn to resolve these problems in
the most ethical manner.

✓ Note: Engineering ethics is also referred as 'prevention ethics'.

Similar to the concept of preventive medicine, prevention ethics
deals with
anticipating all sorts of ethical Issues and preventing them from occurring.
✓ The Scope of engineering ethics are twofold:
o Ethics of the workplace which involves the co-workers and employees in an
organization.
o Ethics related to the product or work which involves the transportation, warehousing,
and use, besides the safety of the end product and the environment outside the
factory.
2.3. Senses or Dimensions of Engineering Ethics
Four senses:
✓ When we interpret Ethics is an activity and area of inquiry. It is the activity of understanding moral
values, resolving moral issues and the area of study resulting from that activity. It can be defined as
o Engineering ethics is an activity and discipline aimed at understanding the moral
values that ought to guide engineering practices, resolve moral issues in Engineering,
and Justifying moral judgments concerning Engineering
✓ When we speak of ethical problems, issues and controversies, we mean to distinguish them from
non moral problems. It can be defined as:
o Engineering ethics refer to set of specific moral problems and issues related to
engineering
✓ When Ethics is used to refer to the particular set of beliefs, attitudes and habits that a person or
group displays concerning moralities. It may be defined as:

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o Ethics has widely accepted codes and standards of conduct, which are to be followed
by the group of Engineers and Engineering Societies
✓ When Ethics and its grammatical variants can be used as synonyms for ‘morally correct’. It may be
defined as:
o Engineering ethics is concerned with the set of justified moral principles of obligation,
rights and ideals that are to be followed by Engineers.

2.4. Morality And Moral Reasons

2.4.1.What Is Morality?
The word morality is concerned with:
✓ What morally ought or ought not to be given in a given solution
✓ What morally right or wrong about the handling of the situation; and/or
✓ What is morally good or bad about the people, policies and ideals involved in it
✓ According to the oxford dictionary, morally means principles concerning right
and wrong or good and bad behavior
✓ Moral reasons are required to support an act (or an ideal) to be called as
morally right act (or an ideal is moral)
2.4.2.What are moral reasons?
Some of the important moral reasons include:
o Respecting others and ourselves,
o Respecting the rights of others;
o Keeping promises to others;
o Avoiding unnecessary offence and pain to others:
o Avoiding cheating and dishonesty;
o Showing gratitude for favor to others; and
o Encouraging teamwork,
2.4.3.Variety of moral issues
2.4.3.1. Approaches to Engineering ethics
✓ There are conventionally two approaches in the study of ethics:
✓ Micro-ethics which deals with decisions and problems of individuals, professionals, and
companies.
✓ Macro-ethics which deals with the societal problems on a regional/national level. For
example, global issues, collective responsibilities of groups such as professional societies and
consumer
groups
✓ Moral Problems In Engineering
• Engineers carry out various activities and decision making exercises involving technical,
financial, managerial, environmental and ethical issues. The variety of moral issues and their
relationship with the issues are depicted below:
• Organizational oriented issues.
o Being an employee to a firm, the engineer has to work towards the achievement of the
objectives of his /her organization
o Engineers have to give high priority to the benefits of the organization than one’s own
benefits
o Engineers should be able to work collectively with colleagues and other members in
order to achieve firm’s goal
• Clients and customers oriented issues

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o Engineers have a major role to play in identifying the customers voice and
incorporating the voice of the customer into product design and manufacture
o Apart from technical issues he has to face other moral and ethical issues with their
clients/customers
• Competitors oriented issues
o In order t withstand in the market, engineers should produce things better than the
competitor
o He should not practice cut-throat competition. They should follow professionalism
o He should go with safety, health and welfare of their clients/ customers in the
performance of their professional duties
• Law , government and public agencies oriented issues
o Engineers should obey and voluntarily comply with all the government rules and
regulations related to them
o They should also respect and honestly practice all other similar laws, policies and
regulations
• Professional societies oriented issues
o Engineers should follow strictly the code of ethics by various professional societies
such as National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the Institute of Electrical
and electronics Engineers(IEEE),and American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME).
o The professional code of ethics reflect the basic norms of conduct that exist within a
particular professional and provide guidance
• Social and Environmental Oriented Issues:
o Engineers should be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety and welfare
o He should also be aware as role as experimenters. They should be committed in
protecting the environment. They should not involve in unethical environmental
activities such as misusing scarce resources and polluting them
• Family oriented issues
o Engineers do have family responsibility and he has to take care of their needs. But
should not take any decisions for their own benefits at the cost of public, clients or
employers

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(Some Examples)
• Resource Crunch
o Due to pressure, through time limits, availability of money or budgetary constraints,
and technology decay or obsolescence. Pressure from the government to complete the
project in time (e.g., before the elections), reduction in the budget because of sudden
war or natural calamity (e.g., Tsunami) and obsolescence due technology innovation by
the competitor lead to manipulation and unsafe and unethical execution of projects.
o Involving individuals in the development of goals and values and developing policies
that allow for individual diversity, dissent, and input to decision-making will prevent
unethical results.
• Opportunity
o Double standards or behavior of the employers towards the employees and the public.
The unethical behaviors of World Com (in USA), Enron (in USA as well as India)
executives in 2002 resulted in bankruptcy for those companies,
o Management projecting their own interests more than that of their employees. Some
organizations over-emphasize short-term gains and results at the expense of
themselves and others,
o Emphasis on results and gains at the expense of the employees, and
o Management by objectives, without focus on empowerment and improvement of
the infrastructure.
o This is best encountered by developing policies that allow ‘conscience keepers’ and
whistle blowers and appointing ombudsman, who can work confidentially with people
to solve the unethical problems internally.
• Attitude
Poor attitude of the employees set in due to
o Low morale of the employees because of dissatisfaction and downsizing, (b) Absence of
grievance redressal mechanism,
o Lack of promotion or career development policies or denied promotions,
o Lack of transparency,

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o Absence of recognition and reward system, and

o Poor working environments.
o Giving ethics training for all, recognizing ethical conduct in work place, including ethics in
performance appraisal, and encouraging open discussion on ethical issues, are some of the
directions to promote positive attitudes among the employees.
o To get firm and positive effect, ethical standards must be set and adopted by the senior
management, with input from all personnel.
o An inspector discovered faulty construction equipment and applied a violation tag,
preventing its use. The supervisor, a construction manager viewed the case as a minor
abrasion of the safety regulations and ordered the removal of the tag to speed up the
project. When the inspector objected to this, he was threatened with disciplinary action.
o An electric utility company applied for a permit to operate a nuclear power plant. The
licensing agency was interested in knowing what emergency measures had been established
for humans safety in case of reactor malfunctioning. The utility engineers described the
alarm system and arrangements with local hospitals for treatment. They did not emphasize
that this measures applied to plant personnel only and that they had no plans for the
surrounding population. When enquired about their omission, they said it was not their
responsibility.
▪ A chemical plant dumped wastes in a landfill. Hazardous substances found their way
into the underground water table. The plant’s engineers were aware of the situation but
did not change the method of disposal because their competitors did it the same cheap
way, and no law explicitly forbade the practice.
▪ Electronics Company ABC geared up for production of its own version of a popular
new item. The product was not yet ready for sale, but even so, pictures and impressive
specifications appeared in advertisements. Prospective customers were led to believe
that it was available off the shelf and were drawn away from competing lines.

2.5. Types of Inquiry

▪ The three types of inquiries, in solving ethical problems are: normative inquiry,
conceptual inquiry,and factual or descriptive inquiry.
▪ The three types of inquiries are discussed below to illustrate the differences and
preference.
2.5.1. Normative Inquiry
It seeks to identify and justify the morally-desirable norms or standards that
should guide individuals and groups. It also has the theoretical goal of justifying
particular moral judgments. Normative questions are about what ought to be and what is
good, based on moral values. For example,
▪ How far does the obligation of engineers to protect public safety extend in any given
situation?
▪ When, if ever, should engineers be expected to blow whistle on dangerous practices
of their employers?
▪ Whose values ought to be primary in making judgment about acceptable risks in
design for a public transport system or a nuclear plant? Is it of management, senior
engineers, government, voters or all of them?
▪ When and why is the government justified in interfering with the organisations?
▪ What are the reasons on which the engineers show their obligations to their
employees or clients or the public?

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2.5.2. Conceptual Inquiry

It is directed to clarify the meaning of concepts or ideas or principles that are
expressed by words or by questions and statements. For example,
▪ What is meant by safety?
▪ How is it related to risk?
▪ What is a bribe?
▪ What is a profession?
o When moral concepts are discussed, normative and conceptual issues are closely
interconnected.
2.5.3. Factual or Descriptive Inquiry
It is aimed to obtain facts needed for understanding and resolving value issues.
Researchers conduct factual inquiries using mathematical or statistical techniques. The
inquiry provide important information on business realities, engineering practice, and the
effectiveness of professional societies in fostering moral conduct, the procedures used in
risk assessment, and psychological profiles of engineers. The facts provide not only the
reasons for moral problems but also enable us to develop alterative ways of resolving
moral problems. For example,
▪ How were the benefits assessed?
▪ What are procedures followed in risk assessment?
▪ What are short-term and long-term effects of drinking water being polluted?
and
▪ Who conducted the tests on materials?

2.6. Moral Dilemmas

2.6.1. Definition
a. Dilemmas are situations in which moral reasons come into conflict, or in which the
application of moral values are problems, and one is not clear of the immediate choice or
solution of the problems.
b. Moral reasons could be rights, duties, goods or obligations. These situations do not mean
that things had gone wrong, but they only indicate the presence of moral complexity. This
makes the decision making complex.
c. For example, a person promised to meet a friend and dine, but he has to help his uncle who
is involved in an accident — one has to fix the priority.
2.6.2. Causes of Moral Dilemmas
d. There are some difficulties in arriving at the solution to the problems, in dilemma. The
three complex situations leading to moral dilemmas are:
a. The problem of vagueness: One is unable to distinguish between good and bad (right or
wrong) principle. Good means an action that is obligatory. For example, code of ethics
specifies that one should obey the laws and follow standards. Refuse bribe or accept the gift,
and maintain confidentiality
Example: consider an engineer, starting a new assignment as quality inspector checking the
incoming raw materials/spare parts from the suppliers. Suppliers offer gift during festival
occasions. This situation causes moral dilemma to engineers whether to accept the gift or
whether it will be treated as bribe and whether it will create conflict of interest. Thus this
problem of vagueness – unclarity, causes moral dilemma
b. The problem of conflicting reasons: One is unable to choose between two good
moral solutions. One has to fix priority, through knowledge or value system.

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Example: let us examine the space shuttle Challenger explosion, focusing on the dilemma
faced by the Engineer cum Manager Bob Lund. He had following issues:
• Launching the Challenger space shuttle despite there was an unknown probability
that the shuttle would explode, which will kill all the persons on the board.
• Postponing the launch will lead to loss of future contracts from NASA , the loss of
job to many workers
Thus this problem of moral dilemma is due to problem of conflicting reasons
c. The problem of disagreement: There may be two or more solutions and none of them
mandatory. These solutions may be better or worse in some respects but not in all aspects. One
has to interpret, apply different morally reasons, and analyze and rank the decisions. Select the
best suitable, under the existing and the most probable conditions.
Example : In most corporations, there are disagreements among managers regarding whether
customers can be allowed to inspect their plants and procedures, as a confidence building
measure
2.6.3. Steps to Solve Dilemma
The logical steps in confronting moral dilemma are:
a. Identification of the moral factors and reasons. The clarity to identify the relevant
moral values from among duties, rights, goods and obligations is obtained conceptual
inquiry). The most useful resource in identifying dilemmas in engineering is the
professional codes of ethics, as interpreted by the professional experience. Another
resource is talking with colleagues who can focus or narrow down the choice of values.
b. Collection of all information, data, and facts (factual inquiry) relevant to the situation.
c. Rank the moral options i.e., priority in application through value system, and also as
obligatory, all right, acceptable, not acceptable, damaging, and most damaging etc. For
example, in fulfilling responsibility, the codes give prime importance to public safety
and protection of the environment, as compared to the individuals or the employers
(conceptual inquiry).
d. Generate alternate courses of action to resolve the dilemma. Write down the
main options and sub-options as a matrix or decision tree to ensure that all
options are included.
e. Discuss with colleagues and obtain their perspectives, priorities, and suggestions
on various alternatives.
f. Decide upon a final course of action, based on priority fixed or assumed. If there is no
ideal solution, we arrive at a partially satisfactory or ‘satisfying’ solution.
2.7. Moral Autonomy
2.7.1.Definition
o Moral autonomy is defined as, decisions and actions exercised on the basis of
moral concern for other people and recognition of good moral reasons.
o Alternatively, moral autonomy means ‘self determinant or independent’. The
autonomous people hold moral beliefs and attitudes based on their critical reflection
rather than on passive adoption of the conventions of the society or profession.
o Moral autonomy may also be defined as a skill and habit of thinking rationally about
the ethical issues, on the basis of moral concern.
• Viewing engineering as social experimentation will promote autonomous participation and
retain one’s professional identity.
• Periodical performance appraisals, tight-time schedules and fear of foreign competition
threatens this autonomy.

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• The attitude of the management should allow latitude in the judgments of their engineers on moral
issues. If management views profitability is more important than consistent quality and retention
of the customers that discourage the moral autonomy, engineers are compelled to seek the
support
from their professional societies and outside organizations for moral support.
• It appears that the blue-collar workers with the support of the union can adopt better autonomy
than the employed professionals. Only recently the legal support has been obtained by the
professional
societies in exhibiting moral autonomy by professionals in this country as well as in the West.
2.7.2. Factors influencing Moral concern
a. Atmosphere in which person is brought up in his childhood
b. One's relationship with friendsa nd relatives.
c. One's interaction with his neighbors.
d. One's family structure and the family's economy.
e. Influence of religious Institutions such as temples, churches , Mosques etc.
f . Influence of educational Institution ssuch as school, c o l l e g e s e t c
g. Influence of teachers and other mentors.
h. Influence of media like newspapers, novels, television, movies etc
i. Influence of some social events.
2.7.3. Skills needed to improve Moral Autonomy
The engineering skills related to moral autonomy are listed as follows:
o Proficiency in recognizing moral problems in engineering and ability to distinguish as
well as relate them to problems in law, economics, and religion,
o Skill in comprehending, clarifying, and critically-assessing arguments on
different aspects of moral issues,
o Ability to form consistent and comprehensive view points based on facts,
o Awareness of alternate responses to the issues and creative solutions for
practical difficulties,
o Sensitivity to genuine difficulties and subtleties, including willingness to undergo
and tolerate some uncertainty while making decisions,
o Using rational dialogue in resolving moral conflicts and developing tolerance
of different perspectives among morally reasonable people, and
o Maintaining moral integrity.
2.8. Theories of Moral Development
2.8.1.Kohlberg’s Theory
✓ Born on October 25, 1927 in Bronxville, New York
✓ Attended Andover Academy in Massachusetts, a private high school for bright and
usually wealthy students
✓ Before college he was an engineer on an old freighter carrying refugees from parts
of Europe to Israel
✓ Studied psychology at the University of Chicago
✓ First became a clinical psychologist before creating his own theory
✓ Spent many years researching how an individual develops their own moral codes
 There are three Stages of Moral Development
 Pre-conventional Level
• It is based on the desire to derive benefits for oneself
• In the first level, individuals behave according to socially acceptable norms, which
are taught mainly by parents and teachers

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• In this first level, individuals are motivated mainly by their interest to avoid
punishment, or by their desire to satisfy their own needs or by external power exerted
on them
• Whatever benefits oneself or avoids punishment. This is the level of development of
all young children. -Avoid punishment & Gain Reward
 Conventional Level
• In the second level, the moral thinking and behavior of the individual are
determined by the standards of their family, community and society. Uncritical
acceptance of one’s family, group or society are accepted as final standard of
morality.
• At this level, individuals are motivated by the desire to please others and to meet
the social unit’s expectations, without bothering much about their self interest.
• Here in the second level, individuals give more importance to loyalty and
close identification with others than their own self interest
• Most adults do not mature beyond this stage.
1. Gain Approval & Avoid Disapproval &
2. Duty & Guilt
 Post-conventional Level
▪ Here in this level, the individuals are guided by strong principles and convictions,
not by selfish needs or pressure from society
▪ These individuals are called as autonomous, because they think for/by themselves and
also they do not believe that customs are always right
▪ The people of this level live by principles that can be accepted by all
▪ But majority of people do not reach this level
1. Agreed upon rights &
2. Personal moral standards
Kohlberg’s level of Moral development

Level Appropriate age range Moral Development

Pre conventional Birth to 9 years ✓ Self centered attitude
✓ Willingness to avoid punishment
✓ Desire to gain reward
Conventional Ages 9 to 20 years ✓ Respect for conventional rules and
authority
✓ Willingness to please or
satisfy others
✓ Importance to loyalty and close
identification with others
Post conventional Over 20 years or may be ✓ Thinking for and by themselves
never ✓ Agreed upon universal general
principles
✓ Personal moral standards

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✓ Drawbacks of Kohlberg’s theory

o How to judge, whether the individual belongs to first level, second level
or third level?
o What are the criteria?
o What is the exact stage for moral development?
o What is the stage of moral maturity?
o Only few people are in post conventional level. Hence it does
recor majority followers
2.8.2.Carol Gilligan Theory
• Carol Gilligan is a contemporary psychologist who has conducted extensive research
into women's approach to moral problems.
• Carol Gilligan was born in New York City on November 28, 1936. She studied literature at
Swarthmore College as an undergrad, and she graduated from Radcliffe in 1960 with a master's
in psychology.
• She continued to Harvard, where she received her PhD in psychology in 1964. Three years
later, Gilligan took a teaching position at Harvard where she worked alongside Erik
Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg.
• While Gilligan worked as a research assistant under Kohlberg, known for his theory of
moral development, she began focusing on the moral dilemmas and development of young
girls.
• Kohlberg’s theory demonstrates that children progress through several stages of
moral reasoning, though not everyone reaches the highest levels
• of moral reasoning, where justice and individual rights are guiding principles in a person’s life.
Kohlberg found that more men reached this stage of moral reasoning than women and that
men
tended to be heavily focused on justice.
• Gilligan criticized this theory, arguing that it was biased in favor of men. In her own
research, Gilligan found that women placed a stronger emphasis on caring in moral decision
making.
• The three stages of Moral development
• Pre-conventional Level
• This is the same as Kohlberg’s first level in that the person is preoccupied with
self centered reasoning, caring for the needs and desires of self.
• Conventional level

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✓ Here the thinking is opposite in that, one is preoccupied with not hurting others and a
willingness to sacrifice one’s own interests in order to help or nurture others (or retain
friendship).
• Post-conventional Level
• Achieved through context-oriented reasoning, rather than by applying abstract rules
ranked in a hierarchy of importance. Here the individual becomes able to strike a
reasoned balance between caring about other people and pursuing one’s own self-interest
while exercising one’s rights.
Gilligan’s level of Moral development
Level Appropriate age range Moral Development
Pre conventional Not listed ✓ Goals is individual survival. i.e.,
self centered attitude
✓ Transition is from selfishness to responsibility to others
Conventional Not listed ✓ Self sacrifice is goodness. i.e.,
individuals sacrifice their interest
to others.
✓ Transition is fromm foodness to truth that she is a person too
Post conventional May be never ✓ Principle of Non violence – do not
hurt others or self
✓ To balance between one’s
own needs with the needs of
others
Note: thus the Kohlberg gives greater emphasis to recognizing rights and abstract universal rules.
Whereas, Gilligan stresses the importance of maintaining personal relationships based on mutual
caring

1. Differences between the TWO THEORIES

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 Example :
 The difference in these two theories is explained through the well-known example,
Heinz’s dilemma
2. Heinz being poor and a debtor could not buy the costly medicine for his sick wife, at ten times
the normal cost. Initially he begged the Pharmacist to sell at half the price or allow him to pay
for it later. Pharmacist refused to oblige him either way. Finally he forcibly entered the
Pharmacy and stole the drug.
3. According to Kohlberg study, men observed that the theft was morally ‘wrong’ at the
conventional level, because the property right was violated. But men at the post-conventional
level, concluded that the theft was ‘right’, as the life of the human being was in danger. But
women observed that Heinz was wrong. They observed that instead of stealing he could have
tried other solutions (threatening or payment in installments?) to convince the Pharmacist.
4. Gilligan however attributed the decision by women as context-oriented and not on the basis of
rules ranked in the order of priority.
2.9. Consensus and controversy
Consensus means “agreement “ and controversy means disagreement
✓ When an individual exercise moral autonomy , he may not able to attain the
same results as other people obtain in practicing their moral autonomy.

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2.10. Professions
2.10.1. What is Profession?
The Latin root of word “profession” means the making of a public declaration
Profession is defined as any occupation/job/vocation that requires advanced
expertise (skills and knowledge), self regulation and concerted service to the public
good. It brings a high status, socially and economically
How do job and Occupation differ from profession
• Ant work for hire can be considered as job , irrespective of skills level
involved and the responsibility approved
• Occupation means employment through which someone makes a living
• Engineering is a job and also occupation. They are paid for services. They
make living out of it. But skills and responsibilities involved in engineering is
more than job
• The professions are occupations requiring sophisticated knowledge, group
commitment to some public good, and significant degree of self Regulation

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2.11. Characteristics of Profession

2.11.1. Who is Professional?

The criteria for achieving and sustaining professional status or professionalism are:
• Advanced expertise: The expertise includes sophisticated skills and theoretical
knowledge in exercising judgment. This means a professional should analyse the problem
in specific known area, in an objective manner.
• Self-regulation: One should analyse the problem independent of self-interest and direct to
a decision towards the best interest of the clients/customers. An autonomous judgment
(unbiased and on merits only) is expected. In such situations, the codes of conduct of
professional societies are followed as guidance.
• Public good: One should not be a mere paid employee of an individual or a teaching
college or manufacturing organization, to execute whatever the employer wants one to
do. The job should be recognised by the public. The concerted efforts in the job should be
towards promotion of the welfare, safety, and health of the public.
2.11.2. Characteristics

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The characteristics of the ‘profession’ as distinct from ‘non-professional occupation’

are listed as follows:
o Extensive Training: Entry into the profession requires an extensive period of training
of intellectual (competence) and moral (integrity) character. The theoretical base is
obtained through formal education, usually in an academic institution. It may be a
Bachelor degree from a college or university or an advanced degree conferred by
professional schools.
o Knowledge and Skills: Knowledge and skills (competence) are necessary for the well-
being of the society. Knowledge of physicians protects us from disease and restores
health. The lawyer’s knowledge is useful when we are sued of a crime, or if our
business is to be merged or closed or when we buy a property. The Chartered
Accountant’s knowledge is important for the success of recording financial transactions
or when we file the income return. The knowledge, study, and research of the engineers
are required for the safety of the air plane, for the technological advances and for
national defense.
o Monopoly: The monopoly control is achieved in two ways:
▪ the profession convinces the community that only those who have graduated
from the professional school should be allowed to hold the professional
title. The profession also gains control over professional schools by
establishing accreditation standards
▪ By persuading the community to have a licensing system for those who want to
enter the profession. If practicing without license, they are liable to pay
penalties.
o Autonomy in Workplace: Professionals engaged in private practice have considerable
freedom in choosing their clients or patients. Even the professionals working in large
organizations exercise a large degree of impartiality, creativity and discretion (care
with decision and communication) in carrying their responsibilities. Besides this,
professionals are empowered with certain rights to establish their autonomy.
▪ Accordingly physicians must determine the most appropriate medical
treatments for their patients and lawyers must decide on the most successful
defense for their clients. The possession of specialized knowledge is thus a
powerful defense of professional autonomy.
o Ethical Standards: Professional societies promulgate the codes of conduct to regulate
the professionals against their abuse or any unethical decisions and actions
(impartiality, responsibility) affecting the individuals or groups or the society.
2.11.3. Models Of Professional Roles
• Promotion of public good is the primary concern of the professional engineers. There are
several role models to whom the engineers are attracted. These models provoke their
thinking,
attitudes and actions.
• Savior: The engineer as a savior, save the society from poverty, illiteracy, wastage,
inefficiency, ill health, human (labor) dignity and lead it to prosperity, through technological
development and social planning. For example, R.L. Stevenson.
• Guardian: He guards the interests of the poor and general public. As one who is conversant
with technology development, is given the authority befitting his expertise to determine what
is
best suited to the society. For example, Lawrence of Arabia (an engineer).

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• Bureaucratic Servant: He serves the organization and the employers. The management of an
enterprise fixes its goals and assigns the job of problem solving to the engineer, who accepts
the challenge and shapes them into concrete achievements. For example, Jamshedji Tata.
• Social Servant: It is one who exhibits social responsibility. The engineer translates the interest
and aspirations of the society into a reality, remembering that his true master is the society at
large. For example, Sir M.Viswesvarayya.
• Social Enabler and Catalyst: One who changes the society through technology. The engineer
must assist the management and the society to understand their needs and make informed
decisions on the desirable technological development and minimize the negative effects of
technology on people and their living environment. Thus, he shines as a social enabler and a
catalyst for further growth. For example, Sri Sundarlal Bahuguna.
• Game Player: He is neither a servant nor master. An engineer is an assertive player, not a
passive player who may carry out his master’s voice. He plays a unique role successfully within
the organization, enjoying the excitement of the profession and having the satisfaction of
surging ahead in a competitive world. For example, Narayanamurthy, Infosys and Dr.
Kasthurirangan, ISRO.

2.12. Professional Responsibility

2.12.1. Senses
There are different senses of responsibility, such as:
• Characteristic Quality - Primarily responsibility implies duty with care and efforts.
• Obligations - These are one’s moral responsibility i.e., duty to act right and in moral ways.
The obligations such as honesty, fairness, and decency are incumbent on every one. In addition
to this, we have role responsibilities assigned by taking up various roles, such as parents,
inspectors, and employees. For example, a Safety Engineer has a responsibility to make
regular inspections in a factory shops.
• General Moral Capacity - One has the general capacity for moral agency, including the
understanding and action on moral reasons.
• Liability and Accountability - Liability and Accountability for actions. It means that one is
liable (with a legal sense) to meet the obligations in better ways. The person is likely to respond
legally, if necessary. Accountable means that one is willing to justify or defend the decisions,
actions or means and outcomes. It could include offering a reasonable excuse or accepting the
shame for not having met the end results or accepting the guilt for harming others. One is also
answerable to the assessment by others on one’s actions (means) or outcomes.
• Praiseworthiness/Blameworthiness: When accountability for wrong actions or results is at
issue, responsibility means blameworthy. When the right conduct or successful result is at
issue, responsible is synonymous with praiseworthy.

2.12.2. Types of Responsibility

Different types of responsibilities exhibited in human transactions are:
• Moral Responsibility:
Moral responsibility as applied to a professional: A professional must be responsible
morally, in creating internal good or good outcomes, and eliminating /minimizing un-
intended side-effects, from engineering and technology. It includes:

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✓ Obligations: A commitment to moral actions (primary obligation to protect the safety of

the human beings and respect their rights),
✓ Conscientious: A comprehensive perspective to accept the duties, and diligently do the
right things by putting their heart, head and hands (awareness of the experimental nature
of the product/project, anticipating possible and unexpected outcomes and putting efforts
to monitor them),
✓ Accountability (being accountable for the decisions, actions, and the results of product/
project including safety), and
✓ Praiseworthy/Blameworthy as applied to context of doing things right/doing things
wrongly, respectively.
• Causal Responsibility
It is being a cause of some event. For example, a child playing with matches cause a house to
burn. The child is causally responsible, but the parent who left the child with matches, is morally
responsible.
• Job Responsibility - It consists of assigned tasks at the place of employment and achieving the
objectives.
• Legal Responsibility - It is the response required by law and includes legal obligations and
accountability to meet them.Many of these responsibilities overlap with moral
responsibility.
2.12.3. Responsible Professionalism
• The most comprehensive virtue of engineers is responsible professionalism. It can also
be called Professional Responsibility. This consists of five types of virtues, as follows:
• Self-direction (Self-governance) virtues are fundamental and necessary in exercising
moral responsibility. On the basis of ‘understanding and cognition’, it includes self-
understanding, humility (proper assessment of one’s character), and good moral judgment
(termed as ‘practical wisdom’ by Aristotle). On the basis of ‘commitment and action’, it
covers courage, self discipline, perseverance, self-respect, and integrity. Honesty a virtue
common to both bases as it implies truthfulness in thoughts and words and trustworthiness
in actions.
• Public-spirited virtues focus on the good of the clients and the public. It includes the
respect for rights (to make decisions and face the risk), non-malfeasance (not harming
others intentionally). Engineering codes go a step further and prescribe beneficence that
includes preventing or removing harm to others and also promoting the public safety,
health, and welfare, generosity (helping the community by voluntarily giving their time,
talent, and money-voluntary service to the professional society and community), and
justice (unbiased) in all decisions and actions.
• Team-work virtues enable the professionals to work successfully with others. They
include collegiality, cooperativeness, communicative ability, and respect for legitimate
authority. Responsible exercise of authority and the ability to motivate other to achieve
are also the relevant to team-work virtues.
• Proficiency virtues, which mean the mastery of technical skills (called as Intellectual
Virtue by Aristotle). It includes competence (having qualified, licensed, and prepared to
execute the job that is undertaken), diligence (alert to dangers, careful attention, and
avoidance of laziness or workaholic nature), creativity (learning to respond to the changing
technological society), excellence (perform at the highest level), and self-renewal through
continuing education.

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• Cardinal (chief) virtues: Wisdom (prudence), courage (fortitude), temperance and justice.
Some of these may overlap other virtues. They are called ‘cardinal’ (Latin: cardo, hinge)
because they are hinges on which all virtues depend. These are also called moral (Latin:
mores, fixed values) because they govern our actions, regulate our passions, and guide our
conduct according to faith and reason. Wisdom is perception of truth and ability to
distinguish between the right and wrong. Courage means a firm and elevated mind.
Temperance represents order in words and actions. Justice is preserving humanity and
observing the faith of contracts. Although these virtues ring religious tones, they are very
relevant to the engineering practice.
2.12.4. Social Responsibility
• Corporate organizations have social responsibility to all of their ‘stakeholders’. This includes
the wellbeing of the employees and their unions, socially responsible investors, customers,
dealers, suppliers, local communities, governments, non-governmental organizations, and the
business owners and managers. Besides showing concern with employee relations and other
internal organizational matters, the organization is concerned with
o how the product/project is marketed, used or misused, how it fails, and how it is
disposed or discarded. The ways in which the used battery cells and computers
are discarded have been debated in the engineers’ forums.
o protecting the work environment during manufacture as well as the
external environment during transport or use
o training the disadvantaged or physically-challenged workers
o subcontracting and hiring practices, and
o contribution to local communities to enrich their cultural, social, and civic life. It
may be
o even compensatory against the harm to environment (e.g., planting trees).
Various types of responsibilities such as causal, moral, and legal are distinguished through
appropriate examples, as shown below:

Events Responsibility
A stray cattle on the rail track (a) Although cattle is the cause, the
caused the derailment of goods train owner of the cattle is morally responsible
(b) For letting the cattle go astray on the
railway track, that is trespassing the owner
is legally responsible
A child playing with (safety?) matches causes Although the child is the cause, the parents
fire who who have left the match box within
the reach of the child, are morally
responsible
(a) Seth was driving a car. He failed to stop (a) Seth is causally responsible
at the red signal, which caused (b) Seth has been negligent of
an accident maintenance of brakes
(b) Suppose he applied brakes, but they failed
There was a forest fire. It was traced to camp Raj is causally responsible for the forest
fire at specific site and Raj was the last to use fire he failed to put out the camp fire.
the campsite. Although the temperature was high, and
the dry leaves helped the fire to spread,

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Raj allowed the fire to spread. Hence, he is

the cause
The products sold have caused harm while The engineer or the engineering firm is
being used legally responsible for the harmful effects
of defects in their products. But they are
not morally responsible for the harm or
defects
A fitter lost one his eyes while inserting The hammer manufacturer was legally
a chip by using a hammer responsible on the basis of the doctrine of
strict liability, which does not require any
proof of effect in the design of the hammer.
Morally the manufacturer was not
responsible
In a contract, it is not implied that the The engineer is free from legal
engineer to be held for not observing the responsibility, but he has moral
possibility of danger. But an accident responsibility to observe the work done
occurs
A pandal erected by the contractor, in a No legal responsibility for pandal
marriage hall catches fire, due to a leakage of contractor. Owner of the hall is morally
electric current responsible for the leakage

Question papers were leaked out by some Controller of Examinations can not be held
persons, during transport legally responsible, although he is morally
responsible

2.12.5. Accountability
Accountability means:
• The capacity to understand and act on moral reasons
• Willingness to submit one’s actions to moral scrutiny and be responsive to the assessment of
others. It includes being answerable for meeting specific obligations, i.e., liable to justify (or
give reasonable excuses) the decisions, actions or means, and outcomes (sometimes
unexpected), when required by the stakeholders or by law.
• Conscientiousness: It means:
o Being sensitive to full range of moral values and responsibilities and
o The willingness to upgrade their skills, put efforts, and reach the best balance
possible among those considerations, and
• Blameworthy/Praiseworthy: Own the responsibility for the good or wrong outcomes. Courage
to accept the mistakes will ensure success in the efforts in future.
• The terms ‘corporate responsibility’ and ‘corporate accountability’ have different meanings.
Corporate responsibility emphasizes the voluntary compliance of a particular organization to
particular codes of conduct. The groups of individuals in the organization are assigned
responsibilities through policy manuals and flow charts. The corporate accountability means
holding all the corporate organizations accountable to the public, employees, customers, and
stock holders, as empowered by rules and laws.
2.12.6. Obligation
• The safety and other obligations of professional engineers are justifiable based on
the following aspects.

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• Moral obligations through laws and enforced codes of conduct

• Through membership of professional society
• Contractual agreement with the employers
• By entry into career as engineer upon graduation from Engineering institutions and
• By special employment agreements or agreement with professional societies.
• The paramount obligation means, giving importance to the safety, health, and welfare of the
public in performing the professional duties.
• Case Study: Choice of the Theory
• The choice of the ethical theory to study a problem is illustrated herein with an example. In
tackling ethical problems, we can apply all the theories and analyze the actions and results
from different angles and see what result each theory gives rise to. This enables us to examine
the problem in different perspectives. Many a time, the result will be the same though we have
applied various theories.
• A chemical plant near a small town is discharging hazardous wastes into the fields nearby. The
ground water gets contaminated and significant health problems surface in the community.
• Since harm is caused to the residents, the action is unethical as per rights ethics. The
agriculturists who have the agrarian right of water supply have been over looked. The
pollutants may endanger their profession and welfare. Hence, rights ethics also concludes that
the action is unethical.
• The effects of polluted water and the cost to purify the water by the municipality may out
weigh the economic benefits of the plant. Hence, the utilitarian analysis leads to the same
conclusion.
• The groundwater harms the people and caused health problems. Hence, discharging
the pollutants is unethical as per duty ethics.
• Generally, because the rights of the individuals should weigh strongly than the needs of the
society as a whole, rights and duty ethics take precedence over utilitarian considerations.
• Caution is necessary in applying theory of virtue ethics. When we use the word ‘honor’, we
mean it to be a measure of dignity and integrity. It is a positive virtue. When it points to
‘pride’
it is not a virtue and has a negative connotation. History abounds with examples of war, which
have been fought and atrocities were committed on innocent people in order to preserve the
honor (pride) of an individual or a nation. In using virtue ethics, we have to ensure that the
traits of virtue are actually virtuous and will not lead to negative consequences.
2.13. Theories of Ethics
2.13.1. Types of Ethical Theories
S.NO TYPES BASED ON
1 Virtue ethics Virtues and vices
2 Utilitarianism Most good for most people
3 Duty ethics Duties to respect persons
4 Rights ethics Human Rights

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2.13.2. Virtue Ethics Theory

Virtue Too much Too less

(Golden mean between extremes)
Courage Foolhardiness Cowardice
Truthfulness Revealing all in violation of tact Being secretive or lacking in
and confidentiality candor
Generosity Wasting one’s resources Being miserly
Friendliness Being annoyingly effusive Sulky or surly

• Virtue is often defined as moral distinction and goodness. A virtuous person exhibits good and
beneficial qualities. In virtue ethics, actions are considered right if they support good
character traits (virtues) and wrong if they support bad character traits (vices)
• Virtue ethics focuses on words such as responsibility, honesty, competence, and loyalty,
which are virtues. Other virtues might include trustworthiness, fairness, caring, citizenship,
and respect. Vices could include dishonesty, disloyalty, irresponsibility, or incompetence.
• Virtue ethics is closely tied to personal character.
• In many ways, this theory may seem to be mostly personal ethics and not particularly applicable to
engineering or professional ethics. However, personal morality cannot, or at any rate should not, be
separated from professional morality. If a behavior is virtuous in the individual’s personal life, the
behavior is virtuous in his or her professional life as well.
• Virtues are desirable ways of relating to other individuals, groups and organizations. They are very
much related to the motives, attitudes and emotions that are responsible for right or wrong conduct
of an individual.
• Professionalism is mainly based on the virtue rather than the technological development,
knowledge, economy etc

Do Engineers need Virtues?

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• According to a professional code of Ethics, the professional responsibilities include virtues that go
beyond fulfilling the basic duties of their professions.

Theories about Virtues

• The virtue ethics is about determining what kind of people should be
• In virtue ethics, one’s actions are considered right if he holds good character virtues and
wrong if we hold bad character vices. Thus virtue ethics is closely related to personal
character.
• The two basics old good theories about virtues are:
▪ Aristotle’s theory of the Golden Mean and
▪ Macintyre’s theory of virtue
a. Aristotle’s theory of the Golden Mean

• The concept of Aristotle’s theory of golden mean is represented in his work called
“Nicomachean Ethics”, in which Aristotle explains the origin, nature and development of
virtues which are essential for achieving the ultimate goal, happiness (Greek:
eudaimonia), which must be desired for itself.
• The virtue or excellence of a thing causes that thing both to be itself in good condition and to
perform its function well. Virtue, then, is a kind of moderation as it aims at the mean or
moderate amount.
• Aristotle’s ethics is strongly teleological, practical, which means that it should be the action
that leads to the realization of the good of the human being as well as the whole.
• According to his theory, the virtue of wisdom or good judgment is
accomplishing the rational activities successfully highly essential for

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• Virtues or
tendencies deficiency to find the Golden Mean between the extremes of excess and
• In “The virtue of Aristotle’s ethics “, Gottlieb (1) identifies the three core aspects of the
doctrine of the mean. First, virtue, like health, is produced and preserved by avoiding
extremes. Second, virtue is a mean relative to us. Third, each virtue is a mean between
two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency.
• The golden mean represents a balance between extremes or vices. For example, courage is the
middle between one extreme of deficiency (cowardness) and the other extreme of excess
(recklessness).
• The mean as concerns fear and confidence is courage: those that exceed in fearlessness are
foolhardy, while those who exceed in fear are cowardly.
• The mean in respect to certain pleasures and pains is called temperance, while the excess is
called profligacy. Deficiency in this matter is never found, so this sort of person does not have a
name.
• In the matter of giving and earning money, the mean is liberality, excess and deficiency are
prodigality and miserliness. But both vices exceed and fall short in giving and earning in
contrary ways: the prodigal exceeds in spending, but falls short in earning; the miser exceeds in
earning, but falls short in spending.
• With respect to honor and disgrace, the mean is “high-mindedness,” the excess might be called
vanity, and the deficiency might be called humility or small-mindedness.

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b. Macintyre’s Theory of Virtues

• Alasdair Macintyre, a contemporary ethicist, related virtues with the social practices.
That is cooperative activities that are aimed at achieving public goods. These public goods
should not be related to external goods such as money and prestige
• According to Macintyre, any profession should develop for the sake of public goods. He
calls the public goods as internal goods.
• (MacIntyre 1981) Action-based theories neglect the communal context. He argues that the
Enlightenment elevated autonomy (self-rule) which ends in individualism.
• Morality is rooted in practices, traditions and forms of life: a moral tradition which provides a
narrative structure.
• Out of primary loyalty to family, friends and community proper virtues flow.
• Moral psychology is important: a theory of how we learn and how we are motivated to be good.
• Examples
o Good of medicine is the promotion of health
o Good of law is social Justice
o Good of Engineering is the safety, health and welfare of the Public
o Good of Teaching is learning and self development
• Thus this theory defines professionalism as the services required for accomplishing the
public goods, in addition to practice of advanced theoretical and practical Knowledge
Strengths of Virtue Ethics

• It provides a motivation for good behaviors.

o Utilitarianism and Kantianism’s reasons behind the action is cold and analytical;
o Virtue ethics stresses the importance of loyalty, thoughtfulness, courteousness of
health social interactions
• It provides a solution to the problem of impartiality
o Utilitarianism and Kantianism require being completely impartial and treating all
human beings as equals.
o Virtue ethics justifies you to take your children to Disneyland, instead of donating the
money to starving children in Africa.
Weakness of Virtue Ethics
• The multiple virtues can allow the justification of injustices.

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• One cannot apply virtue ethics alone in many cases.

• One has to set different priorities to different virtues in different situations.
• Example: You have limited resource to fight one of the two fires
o Prudence: Fight the fire that can cause more property damage (Utilitarianism)
o Fight the fire in the area that paid the city tax (Duty)
2.14. Theories of Right Action
2.14.1. Theory of Utilitarianism
• Utilitarianism says the sole standard of right action is good consequences. There is only
one general moral requirement: Produce the most good for the most people, giving equal
consideration to everyone affected.
• The word utility is sometimes used to refer to good consequences and other times to the
balance of good over bad consequences.
• The utilitarian standard seems simple and reasonable. Surely morality involves producing
good consequences— especially in engineering. Indeed, utilitarian modes of thinking are
reflected in cost-benefit analyses
• Utilitarianism also seems a straight-forward way to interpret the central principle in most
engineering codes: “Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the
public in the performance of their professional duties.”
• Welfare is a rough synonym for overall good (utility), and safety and health might be viewed as
especially important aspects of that good.
• We can measure good consequences by what is intrinsic good—that is, good considered just
by itself. All other good things are instrumental goods in that they provide means
(instruments) for gaining intrinsic goods. Some utilitarian’s consider pleasure to be the only
intrinsic good. But that seems counterintuitive—there is nothing good about the pleasures of
tyrants and sadists take in inflicting suffering.
• John Stuart Mill believed that happiness was the only intrinsic good, and hence he understood
utilitarianism as the requirement to produce the greatest amount of happiness.
• Sometimes Mill confused happiness with pleasures and enjoyments, which are short-term, feel-
good states of consciousness.
• Mill thought of happiness as (a) a life rich in pleasures, especially the “higher” pleasures of
friendship, love, and intellectual endeavors, mixed with some inevitable pains, plus (b) a
pattern of activities and relationships that we can affirm as the way we want our lives to be.
• Some utilitarian’s understand intrinsic goods as those which a reasonable person would pursue,
or those which satisfy rational desires—those that we can affirm after fully examining them in
light of relevant information, for example, love, friendship, appreciation of beauty, in addition
to happiness.
• Most economists adopt a preference theory: What is good is what individuals prefer, as
manifested in what they choose to purchase in the marketplace.
• In addition to developing a reasonable view of intrinsic good, we need to decide whether to
focus on individual actions or general rules.
• Act Utilitarianism
o Classical, nineteenth-century utilitarian’s such as Mill believed in act-utilitarianism a
particular action is right if it is likely to produce the most good for the most people in a
given situation, compared with alternative options available. The standard can be
applied at any moment. Each option would have both immediate and long-term

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consequences that can be estimated. The right action is the one that produces the most
overall good, taking into account everyone affected.
o Act-utilitarianism seems vulnerable to objections. It apparently permits some
actions that we know, on other grounds, are patently immoral. Suppose that stealing a
computer from my employer, an old one scheduled for replacement anyway, benefits
me significantly and causes only miniscule harm to the employer and others. We know
that the theft is unethical, and hence act-utilitarianism seems to justify wrongdoing.
Again, suppose that in a particular situation more good is promoted by keeping the
public ignorant about serious dangers, for example, by not informing them about a
hidden fault in a car or building. Or suppose that it will improve company morale if
several disliked engineers are fired after being blamed for mistakes they did not make.
Doing so is unfair, but the overall good is promoted.
• Rule Utilitarianism
o An alternative version of utilitarianism that says we should maximize the good through
following rules that maximize good consequences, rather than through isolated actions.
o According to this view, called rule-utilitarianism, right actions are those required
by rules that produce the most good for the most people.
o Because rules interact with each other, we need to consider a set of rules. Thus, we
should seek to discover and act on an optimal moral code—that set of rules which
maximizes the public good more than alternative codes would (or at least as much as
alternatives).
o Rule-utilitarian’s have in mind society-wide rules, but the same idea applies to rules
stated in engineering codes of ethics. Thus, an engineering code of ethics is justified in
terms of its overall good consequences , and so engineers should abide by it even when
an exception might happen to be beneficial.
2.15. Theory of Duty Ethics
• Rights and duties are typically correlated with each other. For example, our right to life places
duties on others not to kill us, and our right to liberty places duties on others not to interfere
with our freedom. Duty ethics reverses the order of priority by beginning with duties and
deriving rights from them. Although the similarities between duty ethics and rights ethics are
pronounced, historically they developed as distinct moral traditions.
• Duty ethics says that right actions are those required by duties to respect the liberty or
autonomy (self-determination) of individuals. One duty ethicist suggests the following list of
important duties: “(1) Do not kill. (2) Do not cause pain. (3) Do not disable.
2.15.1. Kant’s theory of Duty Ethics
• The duty ethics theory, proposed by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) states, that actions are
consequences of performance of one’s duties such as, ‘being honest’, ‘not cause suffering of
others’, ‘being fair to others including the meek and week’, ‘being grateful’, ‘keeping promises’
etc. The stress is on the universal principle of respect for autonomy i.e., respect and rationality
of persons.
• As per Kant we have duties to ourselves, as we are rational and autonomous beings. We ought
always to treat persons as having their own rational aims, and not merely use them for our ends.
Immorality occurs when we reduce other people to mere means to our ends and needs. Violent
acts such as murder, rape, and torture are obvious ways of treating people as mere objects
serving our own purposes. We also fail to respect persons if we fail to provide support for them
when they are in desperate need, and we can help them at little inconvenience to ourselves.
Some duties, then, are to refrain from interfering with a person’s liberty, and some express

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requirements to help them when they are in need, thereby paralleling the distinction between
liberty and positive rights
• We have a duty not to commit suicide; a duty to develop our talents and a duty to avoid harmful
drugs. Kant insisted that moral duties are categorical necessary. They are commands that we
impose on ourselves as well as other rational beings. A businessperson who is honest solely
because honesty pays—in terms of profits from customers who return and recommend their
services, as well as from avoiding jail for dishonesty—fails to fully meet the requirements of
morality. In this way, morality involves attention to motives and intentions, an idea also
important in virtue ethics.
2.15.2. John Rawls’s modern Theory of Duty Ethics
• On the other hand, the DUTY ethics theory, as enunciated by John Rawl, gave importance
to the actions that would be voluntarily agreed upon by all persons concerned, assuming
impartiality. His view emphasized the autonomy each person exercises in forming agreements
with other rational people.
• Rawl proposed two basic moral principles; (1) each person is entitled to the most extensive
amount of liberty compatible with an equal amount for others, and (2) differences in social
power and economic benefits are justified only when they are likely to benefit everyone,
including members of the most disadvantaged groups.
• The first principle is of prime importance and should be satisfied first. Without basic liberties
other economic or social benefits cannot be sustained for long.
• The second principle insists that to allow some people with great wealth and power is justified
only when all other groups are benefited.
• In the business scenario, for example, the free enterprise is permissible so far it provides the
capital needed to invest and prosper, thereby making job opportunities to the public and taxes
to fund the government spending on the welfare schemes on the poor people.
• C.W.D. Ross, the British philosopher introduced the term prima facie duties, which
means duties might have justified exceptions.
• In fact, most duties are prima facie ones; some may have obligatory or permissible exceptions.
Ross assumed that the prima facie duties are intuitively obvious (self-evident), while fixing
priorities among duties. He noted that the principles such as ‘Do not kill’ and ‘protect innocent
life’ involve high respect for persons than other principles such as, ‘Do not lie’ (less harmful).
• He has listed various aspects of Duty Ethics that reflect our moral convictions, namely:
o Fidelity : duty to keep promises.
o Reparation : duty to compensate others when we harm them.
o Gratitude : duty to thank those who help us.
o Justice : duty to recognize merit.
o Beneficence : duty to recognize inequality and improve the condition of others.
oSelf-improvement: duty to improve virtue and intelligence.
Non-malfeasance: duty not to injure others.

2.16. Theory of Right Ethics

o The ethical theory called rights ethics is distinctive in that it makes human rights the ultimate
appeal. Human rights constitute a moral authority to make legitimate moral demands on others to
respect our choices, recognizing that others can make similar claims on us.

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o The rights ethics emphasizes respecting the inherent dignity and worth of individuals as they
exercise their liberty. Rights ethics is the most familiar ethical theory, for it provides the moral
foundation of the political and legal system of the United States.
o Thus, in the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be
self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
o Unalienable—or inalienable, natural, human—rights cannot be taken away (alienated) from us,
although of course they are sometimes violated. Human rights have been appealed to in all the
major social movements of the twentieth century, including the women’s movement, the civil rights
movement, the farm workers’ movement, the gay rights movement, and the patients’ rights
movement (in health care).
o The idea of human rights is the single most powerful moral concept in making cross-cultural moral
judgments about customs and laws. As such, the notions of human rights and legal rights are
distinct. Legal rights are simply those the law of a given society says one has, whereas human rights
are those we have as humans, whether the law recognizes them or not.

o Rights ethics applies to engineering in many ways. It provides a powerful foundation for the special
ethical requirements in engineering and other professions. Most engineering codes of ethics enjoin
holding paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, a requirement that can be
interpreted as having respect for the public’s rights to life, rights not to be injured by dangerous
products, rights to privacy, and rights to receive benefits through fair and honest exchanges in a free
marketplace.
o In addition to human rights, there are special moral rights— rights held by particular individuals
rather than by every human being. For example, engineers and their employers have special moral
rights that arise from their respective roles and the contracts they make with each other. Special
rights are grounded in human rights, however indirectly.
o Rights ethics are of two kinds they are liberty rights and welfare rights. Liberty rights (negative
rights) are rights to exercise our liberty, and they place duties on other people not to interfere with
our freedom. Welfare rights are rights to benefits needed for a decent human life, when we cannot
earn those benefits, perhaps because we are severely handicapped, and when the community has
them available. (They are sometimes called positive rights.)
o Another influential version of rights ethics, however, denies there are welfare human rights.
Libertarians believe that only liberty rights exist; there are no welfare rights.
a. Locke’s version of right ethics
o John Locke (1632–1704), who was the first philosopher to carefully articulate a rights ethics, is
often interpreted as a libertarian. Locke’s version of human rights ethics was highlyindividualistic.
He viewed rights primarily as entitlements that prevent other people from meddling in our lives.
The individualistic aspect of Locke’s thought is reflected in the contemporary political scene in the
Libertarian political party and outlook, with its emphases on protecting private property,
dismantling welfare systems, and opposition to extensive government regulation of business and
the professions.
o Libertarians take a harsh view of taxes and government involvement beyond the bare minimum
necessary for national defense, a legal system, and the preservation of free enterprise.
o Locke thought of property as whatever we gained by “mixing our labor” with things—for
example, coming to own lumber by going into the wilderness and cutting down a tree. Even so,

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Locke’s followers tended to insist that property was sacrosanct and that governments continually
intruded on property rights, particularly in the form of excessive taxation and regulation.
b. Melden’s version of right theory
o As per A.I. Melden’s theory based on rights, nature mandates that we should not harm others’ life,
health, liberty or property. Melden allowed welfare rights also for living a decent human life. He
highlighted that the rights should be based on the social welfare system.
c. Human rights:
o Human rights are explained in two forms, namely liberty rights and welfare rights. Liberty rights
are rights to exercise one’s liberty and stresses duties on other people not to interfere with one’s
freedom. The four features of liberty rights (also called moral rights), which lay the base for
Government Administration, are:
1. Rights are natural in so far as they are not invented or created by government.
2. They are universal, as they do not change from country to country.
3. They are equal since the rights are the same for all people, irrespective of caste, race,
creed or sex.
4. They are inalienable i.e., one cannot hand over his rights to another person such as
selling oneself to slavery.
o The Welfare Rights are the rights to benefit the needy for a decent human life, when one cannot
earn those benefits and when those benefits are available in the society.
d. Economic rights:
o In the free-market economy, the very purpose of the existence of the manufacturer, the sellers
and the service providers is to serve the consumer. The consumer is eligible to exercise some
rights. . The consumers’ six basic rights are: Right to Information, Right to Safety, Right to
Choice, Right to be Heard, Right to Redressal, and Right to Consumer Education.
o A few rights are absolute, i.e., unlimited and have no justifiable exceptions. For example, rights
ethicists view that the rights have not been violated if the people purchase a (technological
product) hang glider and they get injured by flying them carelessly or under bad weather
conditions. But human rights imply that one not to be poisoned or killed by technological
products, whose dangers are not obvious or wantonly hidden. They imply a right to be
informed, when the purchase was made, of the possible dangers during use or service
(obtaining informed consent).
Rights ethics is distinctive in that it makes human rights the ultimate appeal — the moral
bottom line. Human rights constitute a moral authority to make legitimate moral demands on
others to respect our choices, recognizing that others can make similar claims on us. Thus, we
see that the rights ethics provides a powerful foundation for the special ethical requirements in
engineering and other professions.
2.17. Interconnectedness among virtues
2.17.1. Integrity
• Moral Integrity is the unity of character based on the moral concern and honesty
• Integrity is a bridge that links the responsibilities between one’s personal life
and professional life
• According to the principle of unity, there should be perfect morality both in personal
life and professional life
• The virtues of self respect and pride in one’s work are possible only through the virtue
of integrity

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• Maintaining integrity often requires the value of compromise. Compromises are

sometimes good and sometimes bad. Therefore, in order to maintain moral integrity, the
ability to identify the reasonable compromises is essential
• Integrity also implies basic honesty
o Truthfulness - meeting responsibilities concerning truth telling
o Trustworthiness - meeting responsibilities concerning trust
2.17.2. Self Respect
• Self respect refers to the virtue of properly valuing oneself in morally appropriate
ways. Valuing oneself property is essential in finding meaning of one’s life and
work
• It is defined as valuing oneself in morally suitable ways.
• Self-respect includes (a) recognition, which means respect to others, their ideas, decisions,
ability, and rights and (b) appraisal, which means properly valuing ourselves as to how
well we face moral standards and our personal commitments (aims). An intensive but
balanced feeling of self-respect is sense of honor.
• This includes intense agony and guilt for wrong doings. Self-control is a virtue of
maintaining personal discipline (self-regulation).
• Courage is a bye-product of self-respect, which makes a person face the hardship in
rational way
• Self-respect is different from self-esteem in the following manner:

• The other related Virtues include:

o A sense of honor
o Self control
o Courage and
o Good judgment
• A sense of honor
o It is also known as dignity. It is the virtue of stressing the emotions of self
respect and also its minimum requirements. This involves pride in maintaining high
professional standards, shame for failing to meet minimum standards of
professionalism and guilty of wrongdoing
• Self control
o It is a virtue of maintaining personal discipline. It means a strong will and
motivation and avoidance of fear, hatred, lack of efforts, temptation, self-deception,
and emotional response. It encompasses courage and good judgment also. Self-
respect promotes self-control.
• Courage

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• It is the virtue of controlling dangers and difficult tasks in rational ways and with
self control
• Courage supports self respect and in turn self respect support courage
• Courage is classified into three types, based on the types of risks, namely
a) Physical courage: In physical courage, the thrust is on the adequacy of the physical
strength, including the muscle power and armaments. People with high adrenalin, may be
prepared to face challenges for the mere ‘thrill’ or driven by a decision to ‘excel’.
b) Social courage: The social courage involves the decisions and actions to change the order,
based on the conviction for or against certain social behaviors. This requires leadership
abilities, including empathy and sacrifice, to mobilize and motivate the followers, for the
social cause.
c) Intellectual courage: The intellectual courage is inculcated in people through acquired
knowledge, experience, games, tactics, education, and training. In professional ethics,
courage is applicable to the employers, employees, public, and the press.
• Good Judgment
o It is the practical wisdom in moral matters of all vitues, including sel respect.
o It is very essential to strike a balance between any two extremes, such as one’s
concern for self oriented goods (like income and prestige) and for society
oriented goods (like producing worthy products)

2.18. Self Interest

• Self-interest is being good and acceptable to oneself. It is pursuing what is good for oneself.
It is very ethical to possess self-interest. As per utilitarian theory, this interest should
provide for the respect of others also. Duty ethics recognizes this aspect as duties to
ourselves. Then only one can help others.
• Right ethicist stresses our rights to pursue our own good. Virtue ethics also accepts the
importance of self-respect as link to social practices.
• In Ethical Egoism, the self is conceived in a highly individualistic manner. It says that
every one of us should always and only promote one’s own interest. The ethical egoists do
not accept the well being of the community or caring for others. However this self interest
should not degenerate into egoism or selfishness, i.e., maximizing only own well in the
pursuit of self-interest.
• The ethical egoists hold that the society benefits to maximum when (a) the individuals
pursue their personal good and (b) the individual organizations pursue maximum profit in a
competitive enterprise.
• This is claimed to improve the economy of the country as a whole, besides the individuals.
In such pursuits, both individuals and organizations should realize that independence is not
the only important value. We are also interdependent, as much as independent. Each of us
is vulnerable in the society.
• Self-respect includes recognition of our vulnerabilities and interdependencies. Hence, it is
compatible with caring for ourselves as well as others.
• Self-interest is necessary initially to begin with. But it should be one of the prime motives
for action; the other motive is to show concern for others, in the family as well as society.
One’s self-interest should not harm others. The principles of ‘Live and let (others) live’,
and ‘reasonably fair competition’ are recommended to professionals by the ethicists.

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2.19. Custom
• Ethical Pluralism: Various cultures in our pluralistic society lead to tolerance for various
customs, beliefs, and outlooks. Accordingly ethical pluralism also exists. Although many moral
attitudes appear to be reasonable, the rational and morally concerned people cannot fully accept
any one of the moral perspectives. There are many varied moral values, which allow variation
in the understanding and application of values by the individuals or groups in their everyday
transactions. It means that even reasonable people will not agree on all moral issues and
professional ethics.
• Ethical Relativism: According to this principle, actions are considered morally right when
approved by law or custom, and wrong when they violate the laws or customs. The deciding
factor is the law or the customs of the society. Should we accept the principle of relativism or
not?
A few reasons to accept this are explained in the following paragraphs:
1. Laws appear to be objective ways for judging values. The laws and customs tend to be definite, clear
and real, but not always. Further moral reasons allow objective criticism of laws, as being morally
lacking. For example, the Apartheid laws of South Africa violated the human rights of the native
Africans. No legal protection was available for native citizens for a long time. Now, of course, these
laws have been repealed.
2. Ethical relativism assumes that the values are subjective at the cultural level. Moral standards also
vary from culture to culture. The objectivity is supported by the existing laws of that society. The
relative morality accepted, supports the virtue of tolerance of differences among societies. This
argument is also not fully acceptable. As per ethical relativism, the actions and laws of the Nazis and
Hitler who vowed on Anti-Semitism and killed several million Jews would be accepted as right.
3. Moral relationalism or moral contextualism: According to this, the moral judgments must be made in
relation to certain factors, which may vary from case to case. The morally important factors for making
judgments include the customs and laws. The virtue ethicists hold that the practical wisdom should
prevail upon assessing the facts and in the judgment.
• This principle was accepted by the early anthropologists because they had a specific tendency to
over-stress the scope of moral difference between cultures. The human sacrifices and cannibalism
were accepted. But the modern anthropologists insist that all cultures shall exhibit the virtue of
social welfare and safety against needless death or physical or mental harm. Moral differences were
based on the circumstances and facts and not on the difference in moral attitudes. For example, the
pharaohs buried the live attendants along with their dead king with the belief that they would
continue to serve the king in his afterlife.

2.20. Religion
• Religions have played major roles in shaping moral views and moral values, over geographical
regions. Christianity has influenced the Western countries, Islam in the Middle-East countries,
Buddhism and Hinduism in Asia, and Confucianism in China. Further, there is a strong
psychological link between the moral and religious beliefs of people following various religions
and faiths.
• Religions support moral responsibility. They have set high moral standards. Faith in the religions
provides trust and this trust inspires people to be moral. The religions insist on tolerance and moral
concern for others. Many professionals who possess religious beliefs are motivated to be morally
responsible.
• Each religion lays stress on certain high moral standards. For example, Hinduism holds polytheistic
(many gods) view, and virtues of devotion and surrender to high order. Christianity believes in one

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deity and emphasizes on virtues of Love, Faith, and Hope. Buddhism is non-theistic and focuses on
compassion and Islam on one deity and adherence of ishan (piety or pursuit of excellence) and
prayer. Judaism stresses the virtue of ‘tsedakah’ (righteousness). But many religious sects have
adopted poor moral standards, e.g., many religious sects do not recognize equal rights for women.
• The right to worship is denied for some people. People are killed in the name of or to promote
religion. Thus, conflicts exist between the ‘secular’ and religious people and between one religion
and another. Hence, religious views have to be morally scrutinized.
2.20.1. Divine Command Ethics
• As per this principle, the right action is defined by the commands by God. It implies that to be
moral, a person should believe in God and an action is right only if it is commanded by God. There
are some difficulties in this approach, namely, (a) whether God exists or not is not clear. (b) How
to know what are the God’s commands? and (c) How to verify the genuineness of the commands?
• Further, religions such as Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity accept the existence of God. But
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism adopt only faith in a right path and do not believe in God.
• Socrates was said to have argued that God, an entity which is responsible, morally good, and
beyond fear or favor, would not command murder, rape, torture, immoral activities, and even
mass
suicide. Many such crimes were committed in the name of God then and continue even now in
different parts of the world. Some Western leaders had claimed that God had commanded them to
invade against the Middle-East countries. If anyone claims to have obtained commands from God
to kill people merciless, then we have to conclude that the person is not religious but insane.

2.20.2. Uses of Ethical Theories

CASE STUDY: CHOICE OF THE THEORY
• The choice of the ethical theory to study a problem is illustrated herein with an example. In
tackling ethical problems, we can apply all the theories and analyze the actions and results from
different
angles and see what result each theory gives rise to. This enables us to examine the problem in
different perspectives. Many a time, the result will be the same though we have applied various
theories
• Case: A chemical plant near a small town is discharging hazardous wastes into the fields nearby.
The ground water gets contaminated and significant health problems surface in the community.
Since harm is caused to the residents, the action is unethical as per rights ethics. The
agriculturists who have the agrarian right of water supply have been over looked. The pollutants
may endanger their profession and welfare. Hence, rights ethics also concludes that the action is
unethical.
• The effects of polluted water and the cost to purify the water by the municipality may outweigh the
economic benefits of the plant. Hence, the utilitarian analysis leads to the same conclusion.
• The groundwater harms the people and caused health problems. Hence, discharging the pollutants
is unethical as per duty ethics. Generally, because the rights of the individuals should weigh
strongly
than the needs of the society as a whole, rights and duty ethics take precedence over utilitarian
considerations.
• Caution is necessary in applying theory of virtue ethics. When we use the word ‘honor’, we
mean it to be a measure of dignity and integrity. It is a positive virtue. When it points to ‘pride’ it is
not a virtue and has a negative connotation. History abounds with examples of war, which have
been fought and atrocities were committed on innocent people in order to preserve the honor
(pride) of an individual or a nation. In using virtue ethics, we have to ensure that the traits of virtue
are actually virtuous and will not lead to negative consequences.

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