Do Engineers Have Social Responsibilities
Do Engineers Have Social Responsibilities
Do Engineers Have Social Responsibilities
People enjoy what technology can do for them while often ignoring what it can do to them
--Edward Wenk
It means that engineers take into account and show due regard for the consequences of their conduct for the well-being of others as well as for the impact of their work on society and the citizenry.
This requires the engineer to make determined efforts to discover all of the relevant facts concerning the design, development, and deployment and all of the possible outcomes of the choices available that may positively 2 and negatively affect/impact society and the citizenry
Ensure the safety and well-being of the public Ensure that societys funds and resources concerning technology are well used Refusing to work on a particular project or for a particular company Speaking out publicly against a proposed project Blowing the whistle on illegality or wrong-doing Professional Societies obligation to provide protection for whistleblowers Individual and organizational concern about the impact of engineering projects on society Contributing ones services to worthy, non-profit groups and projects Engineering schools commitment to educating future engineers about their social responsibilities
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1. Engineering is not a true profession so society should not expect that engineers have social responsibilities like the other true professions 2. Engineering is a value-free enterprise that deals only in objective facts 3. Engineers are not qualified to make ethical judgments on behalf of society so it is unfair to think they should or could 4. The nature of engineer-manager relations in large organizations
Engineers lack decision-making autonomy and power
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Arguments that Engineers Dont (Shouldnt/Couldnt) Have Social Responsibilities (Argument One)
1. Engineering is not a true profession and so society shouldnt hold the profession of engineering, or individual engineers, to higher ethical standards as it does other true professions such as medicine, law, and university professors
1. Professions have social responsibilities but engineering is not a profession like medicine and law and so it does not have the same, higher, social responsibilities 2. Engineering does not serve a crucial social need and high ends that is the basis of an implicit social contract 3. Engineering is not given the same privileges other professionals so there is not a social contract that promotes engineering social responsibility
Engineers lack legal and quasi-legal protections to do or refrain from performing certain actions: for example, professors (academic freedom), journalists (sources), and clergy and psychiatrists (confidentiality)
Counterargument The professionalization of engineering Engineering does serve crucial social needs
Material well-being through technological systems and artifacts
Engineers maintain a value-free objectivity following a scientific methodology absent of any subjectivity To make individual engineers socially responsible is to inject a radical, arbitrary, and precarious subjectivity based on the whims of individual engineers
"...engineering ethics is not, or should not be a medium for expressing ones personal opinions about life. " "Engineers do not have the responsibility, much less the right, to establish goals for society." (Florman, p. 95)
Counterargument Engineers, because they know the technology at the most intimate level, are aware of its risks and limits as well as its benefits Engineers could be educated to become more aware of their ethical responsibilities and how to make ethically responsible decisions regarding its design, development, and deployment
Counterargument Is this a subterfuge for inaction? Engineers cannot escape social responsibilities for choice of action by alleging some kind of objectivity not possessed by the layperson or lay citizenry or by claiming incompetence and/or ignorance as to the social impact of his/her design, and the corresponding public sentiment about it. Whose interests does it serve? Does it serve corporate interests at the expense of the interests of the public when it comes to risk or harm to the citizenry? Is this an abdication of responsibility? 10
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Engineers are a captive profession in a highly compartmentalized work environment. Managers choose what to do, divide work up into small groups, and assign each engineer to a particular one Communication between engineers and managers is kept to a minimum to assure management control Engineers identify options, test them, and report the work to managers Managers combine these reports with business information they alone have. Managers decide, engineers merely advise 12
Corporate engineers are used as hired hands who develop technology with the sole purpose of advancing the economic demands of the corporation or client Engineers are not independent professionals They are employees Emerging from the canal and railway building enterprises of the nineteenth century American engineering is a creature of large bureaucratic organizationsindividual engineers were the original organization man 13
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ARTICLE IV Engineers shall, in fulfilling their responsibilities to the community: Protect the safety, health and welfare of the public and speak out against abuses in these areas affecting the public interest; Contribute professional advice, as appropriate, to civic, charitable or other non-profit organizations; Seek to extend public knowledge and appreciation of the engineering profession and its achievements
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Professionalism
WHAT IS A PROFESSIONAL?
Originally, one who professed adherence to monastic vows of a religious order. * a free act of commitment to a specific way of life * allegiance to high moral standards * skill, knowledge, practice of an art
WHAT IS A PROFESSIONAL?
Today, it is one who is duly qualified in a specific field * special theoretical knowledge or education * appropriate experience * knowledge and skills vital to the well-being of a large potion of society * Professional organization and a code of ethic 21 * special social sanction
Models of Professionalism
Business Model * * * professional status provides economic gain monopoly provides for high pay self-regulation avoids government regulation
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MODELS OF PROFESSIONALISM
Social Contract Model
Professionals are guardians of the public trust
Professions are social institutionsthey are organized by some act of society and are granted special powers in return for socially beneficial goods and services (Licensure) An implicit, unstated agreement exists between professional and society Society may subsidize training of professionals
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Professionals agree to: * provide a service - for the public well-being - promote public welfare, even at own expense * self-regulation - enforce competence - enforce ethical standards
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All things being equal, one should exercise due care to avoid contributing to significantly harming others
Principle of Proportionate Care
When one is in a position to contribute to greater harm or when one is in a position to play a more critical part in producing harm than is another person, one must exercise greater care to avoid so doing
If doctors fail to do their job with technical competency or ethical commitment, an individual may be harmed or killed If engineers fail to do their job with technical competency or commitment to ethics, dozens, hundreds, even thousands may be harmed or killed
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Example: Physicians and nurses have a special obligation to use their knowledge and skills to improve the health of their patients
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1964)
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Defining Engineering
Engineering is that profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind. (The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology ABET, 1992) Engineering is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems. Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and the convenience of people. In its modern form engineering involves people, money, materials, machines, and energy. It is differentiated from science because it is primarily concerned with how to direct to useful and economical ends the natural phenomena which scientists discover and formulate into acceptable theories. Engineering therefore requires above all the creative imagination to innovate useful applications of natural phenomena. It seeks newer, cheaper, better means of using natural sources of energy and materials. (Science and Technology Encyclopedia, McGraw Hill) Engineering is the professional art of applying science to the optimum conversion of the resources of nature to the uses of humankind. (Encyclopedia Britannica) Engineering is the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people (MerriamWebster Dictionary)
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Defining Engineering
Scientist discovers that which exists. An engineer creates that which never was
Theodore von Karman (1881-1963)
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Engineering Ethics
Engineering ethics is derived from the awesome power of modern technology The institutionalization of engineering ethics is a social necessity due to the fact that the actions of engineers can have such enormous impact on the lives of individuals, states, cultures, the environment, and the entire planet An engineer is a professional who uses technologiesand the knowledge that he possesses of diverse technical systems: objects of all kinds, and in particular, machines, tools and systemsto create other technical systems that satisfy human needs and wellbeing It is necessary to develop with rigor and depth a concept of ethics and responsibility commensurate with our immense technological powers in order to advance to a safer and more just world
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SONG OF THE ENGINEER I take the vision which comes from dreams And apply the magic of science and mathematics Adding the heritage of my profession And my knowledge of Natures materials To create a design. I organize the efforts and skills of my fellow workers Employing the capital of the thrifty And the products of many industries And together we work toward our goal Undaunted by hazards and obstacles. And when we have completed our task All can see That the dreams and plans have materialized For the comfort and welfare for all. I am an Engineer. I serve mankind By making dreams come true. (Unknown Author)
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Engineering
Science
Humanities
Natural Science
Humanities 50
Engineering as a Humanity
Is Engineering more like Natural Science or more like a field of studies in the Humanities? If you look at the very definition of engineering, you will see that engineering is intimately connected to the humanities because it is the application of scientific theory to solve certain problems of humanitynamely its need for technology
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I. Guns for Hire Engineers should provide their skills to anyone irrespective of moral convictions (within limits of law)
II. Personal and Professional Values Engineers should refuse to work on projects they deem to conflict with their (personal) morals
III. Risk and Public Consent Engineers should refuse to work on projects that increase societal risk or degrade public safety unless the public is informed and consents
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Engineers should provide their skills to anyone irrespective of moral convictions (within limits of law)
PRINCIPLES Suggests that engineers can and should act amorally It is not fair or useful to have engineers impose their personal views on society
PROBLEMS Contradicts very idea of a profession Assumes market and regulation will properly filter out bad projects and give the public what it wants or is best for it The system bears all the responsibilities
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Engineers should refuse to work on projects they deem to conflict with their (personal) morals
PRINCIPLES Individual conscience used to make professional judgments Engineers should direct their skills only for projects of positive value to humanity Matters of conscience, and matters of safety and welfare of society inextricably linked
PROBLEMS Principle empty of content (what does positive mean?) Fails to draw the line between personal and professional ethics (too much reliance on personal choices to decide what is ethical) Fails to provide ethical guidelines for engineers to follow
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Engineers should refuse to work on projects that increase societal risk or degrade public safety unless the public is informed and consents
PRINCIPLES Engineers views are not imposed on society Engineers can be assured the public has consented to acceptable risks
PROBLEMS Impractical to obtain consent of public or implement in some situations (how to deal with nonunanimous consent; what if people disagree?; who makes the decisions?) Engineers are not assigned the responsibility to determine whether or not adequate consent is given
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Military Research Questions: (1) Is it good for humanity? (2) Are those affected informed about it? (3) The logic of secrecy?
Conclusions: Provides a framework for analysis (not a solution) about issues of military research Engineers should not abdicate their responsibilities (cannot justify : GFH view) 61 Ethical issues in military research are matters of both personal conscience and professional judgment
Engineering Practice
Social Contract 1. Individual role responsibility 2. Rules of the profession 3. Highest goods and Principles
Social Responsibility Questions: (1) Does the American engineering system assign responsibility to engineers? (2) Should society assign special social responsibilities to engineers? (3) If so, on what ethical foundations?
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Society
(1) promise to design and produce safe and reliable technologies (2) promise to regulate themselves in providing their services
Problems: 1. The rights to do engineering work is not reserved for engineers (counterpoint): The rights only apply to licensed engineers (P.E.s)a small number or practicing engineers 2. Engineers do not exercise sufficient autonomy or power to protect society (counterpoint): the profession of engineering, in instituting mechanisms for regulating its members, receives contractual rights and therefore bears collective (professional) responsibility
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2. A direct connection between ones power to affect a situation and ones responsibility to take care 3. Engineers have special expertise and engineering projects do pose potentially grave social harms (risks) Problems: 1. Does not apply just to engineers (managers have the power; engineers lack autonomy) 2. The concept exercising due care is vague (whistle blowing, other acts of dissent) 3. The focus on harm shifts attention from what engineering projects do: pose RISKS 4. The issue is not: Will I contribute to significant harm?; rather it is How much risk will there be? Is the risk worth the benefit? What is an acceptable degree of risk? 5. Engineer-Management relations (Ford Pinto; Challenger; DC-10): Engineers acted responsibly; Managers acted irresponsibly)
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In seeking an account of the social responsibilities or a profession or its members, we must work at the middle level. We must seek an understanding of a profession as a set of social arrangements which must be justified by something higher, but not completely determined by the higher good or principle. We must also understand that such a system might require members to do things not expected or required of non-members.
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Answer to the first question: ambiguous. 1. Engineering Codes require social responsibility, but large corporations in which engineers work require company loyalty and not commitment to human well-being 2. Public attitudes toward ethical engineers also ambiguous: whistle blowers not properly protected Answer to the second question: not yet formulated 1. Would have to determine the ends of engineering and then show how assigning stronger social responsibilities to engineer would further these ends 2. What are the ends of engineeringHuman well-being and Safety 3. Definitions of engineering: A. The application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people in structures, machines, products, systems, and processes (Websters Ninth Collegiate) B. The application of science in order to solve human problems C. Applying science for the benefit of humanity
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Some technologies trigger unintended consequences, many being harmful to some groups of people (set of stakeholders) Thesis: It is part of the professional responsibility of engineers to be aware of the ways in which technology interacts with the larger society and its citizens, especially as this interaction involves Values
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Technological Optimism
Thesis: Technology gives rise to powerful enabling factors which greatly enhance human powers and helps maximize human freedom, decreases human disease, and creates abundant material wealth and well-being which heightens improved social standards
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Technological Pessimism
Antithesis: Technological Determinism Technology can have a life of its own It exhibits an inner logic or momentum of development that makes it autonomous and beyond human control Technological development takes place without a plan and without regard to values and to the final ends and purposes of technology The influence of technology is all-pervasive The level of technology in any period in history determines the way in which the majority of people can earn their living and spend the majority of their time The comforts and advantages of technology are like addictions that hook us Those who try to rebel are rendered ineffective and ultimately destroyed
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Technological Democratism
Synthesis: Technology is mediated, both acting on and acted upon by society. Technology is so powerful that philosophical thought about its development and use is seriously needed Responsibility of being accountable for the effects of technology on our lives and the ways in which technology may involve values and possible hidden social agendas Responsibility for engineers, corporations, and society to deliberate together about how technology can best be developed and used to promote the social and human good
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Professional Dilemma
On the one hand, professionals like engineers may sometimes do things for clients/employers with which they do not completely agree with morally
Lawyers defend a clients foreclosure of a poor family Doctors contraception; abortion Engineers military; environment
On the other hand, professionals are supposed to be independent moral agents and not just guns for hire
As possessors of expert knowledge, professionals of expert knowledge, they have a special obligation to the public welfare
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Solution Engineers Must Think Philosophically and Ethically About Technology and Social Values: Five Theses
1. Technology can be used to implement political and social values 2. Technology can change our life world. It produces forms of life 3. Technology can change our relationship to nature 4. Technology can require a certain type of political or social organization 5. Technology can have embedded values
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