Section outline

  • Introduction

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    Home - PHIL 385: Engineering Ethics - LibGuides at Wichita State University

    Welcome to the course HUM 321 Engineering Ethics and Envronmental Protection.

     In this course we try to develop moral ethics and it's fundamentals related to engineering field and backgorund. Introduction to Engineering Ethics provides the background for discussion of the basic issues in engineering ethics. Emphasis is given to the moral problems engineers face in the corporate setting. It places those issues within a philosophical framework, and it seems to exhibit both their social importance and their intellectual challenge. The primary goal is to stimulate critical and responsible reflection on moral issues surrounding engineering practice and to provide the conceptual tools necessary for pursuing those issues. As per new ABET 2000 guidelines, more and more introductory engineering courses cover engineering ethics as part of their instruction. Students preparing to function within the engineering profession need to be introduced to the basic issues in engineering ethics. This book places those issues within a wider philosophical framework than has been customary in the past and aims to stimulate critical and responsible reflection on the moral issues surrounding engineering practice and to provide the conceptual tools necessary for pursuing those issues.


    COURSE TEACHER:


    Name :  Anjan Kumar Bagchi

    Designation: Lecturer, Dept. of EEE, FE, DIU

    Educational Qualification: B.Sc. Engg. EEE, (BUET) ; M.Sc. Engg. EEE, BUET (ongoing)

    Office: Engineering Complex, Department of EEE, Room-207, Daffodil International University, Ashulia.

    Contact Number: 01799 368317

  • Week-1 (INTRODUCTION)

    Week-1 covers the introduction to the HUM 321 Engineering Ethics and Environmental Protection course.

    Engineering Ethics - Introduction

    Engineering is the process of developing an efficient mechanism which quickens and eases the work using limited resources, with the help of technology. Ethics are the principles accepted by the society, which also equate to the moral standards of human beings. An engineer with ethics, can help the society in a better way. Hence the study of Engineering ethics, where such ethics are implemented in engineering by the engineers, is necessary for the good of the society. Engineering Ethics is the study of decisions, policies and values that are morally desirable in engineering practice and research.

    The course outline, marks distribution, assessment tools have also been discussed.

  • Week-02 (CORE HUMAN VALUES - MORALS, VALUES, ETHICS)

    Moral Values. Wooden Signpost with Arrows Pointing Different Directions Against Blue Sky Stock Image - Image of background, dignity: 181028577

    According to Charles Colson, “Morality describes what is, whereas Ethics describes what ought to be”. Fundamentally, morals refer to a set of rules defining what is considered to be right or wrong and accepted without questions. These rules are typically defined by society. If someone breaks such a rule then he is typically considered to have been “bad” or “immoral.”

    Values, on the other hand, provide direction in the determination of right versus wrong or good versus bad. Values are what an individual believes to have worth and importance or to be valuable. As such, morals are values defining right from wrong or good from bad.

    Ethics refers to the “moral character of an individual”. The Greeks believed that it includes an emphasis on an individual’s character as well as national character of a citizen as a component of a greater community.


  • Week-03 (SENSES OF ENGINNERING ETHICS)

    Senses of engineering ethics1Inquiring into the Ethical Dimensions of Professional Practice

    SENSES OF ENGINEERING ETHICS:

    There are two different senses (meanings) of engineering ethics, namely the Normative and the Descriptive senses. The normative sense includes:

    (a) Knowing moral values, finding accurate solutions to moral problems and justifying moral judgments in engineering practices,

    (b) Study of decisions, policies, and values that are morally desirable in the engineering practice and research, and

    (c) Using codes of ethics and standards and applying them in their transactions by engineers. The descriptive sense refers to what specific individual or group of engineers believe an act, without justifying their beliefs or actions.
    The main goal of courses in Moral Inquiry is to provide students with the ability to understand the varying or conflicting solutions that, in a global world, have been proposed to fundamental moral and ethical questions.

  • Week-04 (MORAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY)

    Kohlberg's Stages and Theory of Moral Development Explained – StudiousGuy

    Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development by asha simpson

    Moral development refers to changes in moral beliefs as a person grows older and gains maturity. Moral beliefs are related to, but not identical with, moral behavior: it is possible to know the right thing to do, but not actually do it. 

    Moral Autonomy is the philosophy which is self-governing or self-determining, i.e., acting independently without the influence or distortion of others. The moral autonomy relates to the individual ideas whether right or wrong conduct which is independent of ethical issues. The concept of moral autonomy helps in improving self-determination. Moral Autonomy is concerned with independent attitude of a person related to moral/ethical issues. This concept is found in moral, ethical and even in political philosophy.


  • Week-05 (Codes of Engineering Ethics)

    Code of Ethics | phcpprosCode of ethics: Why are they important? | YourMembership

    The engineering societies such as AAES, ABET, NSPE, IEEE, and AICTE have framed these codes of ethics which are helpful to engineers to strengthen the moral issues on their work. The codes of ethics play at least eight important roles such as the following.

    Serving and Protecting the Public

    Engineers are in a responsible position where trust and trustworthiness, both are essential. A code of ethics functions as a commitment to the profession as a whole that engineers will serve the public health, safety, and welfare. All the remaining ones contribute to this function in some or other way.

    Guidance

    Codes are written in brief yet effective to offer general guidance to the engineers. More specific directions may be given in supplementary statements or guidelines, which tell how to apply the code. If needed, the assistance is obtained for further specification.

    Inspiration

    Codes of ethics, which specify a collective commitment towards a profession, helps in motivation for ethical conduct. Actually, these codes make one feel really responsible and proud to be a professional thus motivating towards the commitment one should have towards one’s profession.

    Shared Standards

    The standards established should be applicable to all individuals, in their particular professions. With the codes of ethics, the public is assured of engineers with a minimum standard of excellence and the professionals are provided a fair way to compete.

    Support for Responsible Professionals

    The professionals who act ethically have more positive support through these codes. A professional engineer who has the intention to stand by the codes of ethics can have no harm from immoral professional obligations, as he can reject smoothly yet formally. As well, these codes can provide legal support to engineers who are criticized for living up to work-related professional obligations.

    Education and Mutual Understanding

    The codes which are widely circulated and officially approved by professional societies promote a shared understanding among professionals, the public and government organizations about the moral responsibilities of engineers. These codes prompt discussion and reflection on moral issues.

    Deterrence and Discipline

    The professionals those who fail to follow the codes exhibit unethical conduct, which is evident from the disobedience. Such an investigation generally requires paralegal proceedings designed to get at the truth about a given charge without violating the personal rights of those being investigated.

    This might lead to the expulsion of those whose professional conduct has been proven unethical, which also leads to loss of respect from colleagues and the local community.

    Contributing to the Profession’s Image

    Codes project the engineers as the professionals of an ethically committed profession, which inspires them to work with great commitment and more effectively to serve the public. It can also win greater powers of self-regulation for the profession itself while lessening the demand for more government regulation.


  • Graded Assignment

    Challenger: Case Study in Engineering Ethics and Communications Tom Rebold Adapted from Tufte, Visual Explanations And - ppt download

    CASE STUDY: THE SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER DISASTER

    Introduction To The Case: On January 28, 1986, seven astronauts were killed when the space shuttle they were piloting, the Challenger, exploded just over a minute into the flight. The failure of the solid rocket booster O-rings to seat properly allowed hot combustion gases to leak from the side of the booster and burn through the externalfuel tank. The failure of the O-ring was attributed to severalfactors, including faulty design of the solid rocket boosters, insufficient low- temperature testing of the O-ring material and the joints that the O-ring sealed, and lack of proper communication between different levels of NASA management.


    General Guidelines for Students:

    • A material has been provided that explains all the details and consecutive incidents took place related to the space shuttle disaster. Read the material thorougly to understand, analyze the challenger disaster case.
    • After reading the material and getting a holistic understanding about the entire case, you will see some questions at the end of the material. Answer those questions by using your ethical judgements and understanding as a future engineer. Discuss in brief to build up your logics which must be relevent to the case. 
    • Each of the students have to submit the assignment individually in the BLC Assignment Portal. 
    • You can write your answers on A4 paper, scan it and make a pdf. Or you can type your answers. The choice is yours.

    N.B. If you have any doubt or problem in understanding the case related events, you can ask me in the following counseling hours: Saturday: 8:30AM - 9:30AM;  Sunday: 8:30AM - 9:30AM 

    • resource icon
      Week 6 materials File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Lecture Slides and supporting materials

  • Mid Exam 2024

    Syllabus - 

    1. Definition of Engineering Ethics, Morals, Vlaues. Difference between ethics, morals and values.
    2. Definition of Engineering Ethics, Different types of Sensing of Ethics.
    3. Definition and types of Moral Inquiries to solve Ethical Issues.
    4. Moral Development Theories (Kohlberg's theory, Gilligen's theory), Comparison and Application on social contexts. [ read from the link provided in the slide ]
    5. Theories about Right Actions, Applications and Examples. [read from the link provided]
    6. Codes of Engineering Ethics [NSPE Codes], application in different ethical issues.

    • resource icon
      Sample problems File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Here, you will find some sample problems for your mid term examination

  • Saftey, Responsibilities and Risk

    Till now, we have come across many reasons why an engineer needs to be responsible. The responsible engineers follow the codes of ethics to avoid unnecessary problems. The problems majorly occur in two different ways. One of them is when you can assess and the other is when you cannot. A mistake made by an engineer at work may result in huge losses.

    An engineer is supposed to assess the risks of his experiments. The disasters do occur at times, though enough care is taken, as stated in the examples given in previous chapters. But knowing all the possibilities, if an engineer neglects the precautions, the results can be really disastrous. So, let us try to analyze the importance of safety, analyze risk in engineering.

    Who Is Responsible For Workplace Safety | Storage Equipment Experts

    • resource icon
      Lecture Slide File
      Students must
      Mark as done
    • page icon
      Sample Quiz Question Page
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Some sample quiz questions are given below. You only need to read the slide to exercise the answers and you can also browse for getting examples.

  • Presentation Section A

  • Presentation Section B

    • assign icon
      Presentation Submission Section B Assignment
      Opened: Saturday, 16 November 2024, 12:00 AM
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Students from section B submit your presentation here

  • Presentation Section C

    • assign icon
      Presentation Submission Section C Assignment
      Opened: Saturday, 16 November 2024, 12:00 AM
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Students from section C submit your presentation here

  • Mid Term Question

    • resource icon
      Mid Term Question File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Students, here you can see your question paper for the mid term examination

  • Week 8

    • resource icon
      Week 8 materials File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Here you can find the material needed for this week

  • Week 9 Materials

    • resource icon
      Week 9 Materials File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Here you can find the materials needed for week 9

  • Week 10 Materials

    • resource icon
      Week 10 Materials File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Here, you can find the materials needed for week 10


  • Week 11 Materials

    • resource icon
      Week 11 Materials File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      Here, you can find the materials needed for week 11

  • Student Discussion:

  • Complex Engineering Problem Assignment Submission

  • Student Feedback

  • Topic 20