LEARNING FROM THE PAST
Engineers should learn not only from their own earlier design and operating results, but also from other engineers. Engineers repeat the past mistakes of others due to the following reasons. • Lack of established channels of communication. • Misplaced pride in not asking for information • Embarrassment at failure or fear of litigation (legal problems). • Negligence. Examples: 1. The Titanic lacked sufficient number of life boats resulting in the death of 1522 out of 2227 (life boat capacity available was only 825), a few decades later Arctic perished due to the same problem. 2. In June 1966, a section of the Milford Haven Bridge in Wales collapsed during construction. A bridge of similar design, erected by the same bridge- builder in Melbourne, Australia, also partially collapsed in the month of October, same year. During this incident 33 people were killed and many were injured. 3. Malfunctions occurred at nuclear reactors at various locations and the information reports were with Babcock and Wilcox, the reactor manufacturer. In spite of these, no attention was paid leading to a pressure relief valve giving rise to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident on March 28, 1979.
SIMILARITIES TO STANDARD EXPERIMENTS
1. Any project is carried out in partial ignorance due to • The uncertainties in the abstract model used for the design calculations, • The uncertainties in the precise characteristics of the materials purchased, • The uncertainties caused by variations in processing and fabrication of materials and • The uncertainties about the nature of stresses the finished product will encounter. Indeed, Engineer’s success lies in the ability to accomplish tasks with only a partial knowledge of scientific laws about nature and society. 2. The final outcome of engineering projects, like those of experiments, is generally uncertain. Very often, possible outcomes are not even known and great risks may be presented which could never be thought of. 3. Effective Engineering relies upon knowledge gained about products both before and after they leave the factory- knowledge needed for improving current products and creating better ones. That is, ongoing success in engineering depends upon gaining new knowledge.
ENGINEERING AS EXPERIMENTATION
• Experimentation (Preliminary tests or Simulations) plays a vital role in the design of a product or process. • In all stages of converting a new engineering concept into a design like, First rough cut design, Usage of different types of materials and processes, Detailed design, Further stages of work design and The finished product, Experiments and tests are conducted to evaluate the product. Modifications are made based on the outcome of these experiments. • The normal design process is thus iterative (modifications being made on the basis of feedback information acquired from the tests). Even though various tests and experiments are conducted at various stages, the engineering project as a whole in its totality can be viewed as an experiment.
Uses of Ethical Theories
1. Ethical theories aid in identifying the moral considerations or reasons that constitute a dilemma. 2. They provide a precise sense of what kinds of information are relevant to solving moral development. 3. They sometimes, offer ways to rank the relevant moral considerations in order of importance and provide a rough guidance in solving moral problems. 4. The theories help us identify the full moral ramifications of alternative courses of action, urging a wide perspective on the moral implications of the options and providing a systematic framework of comparing alternatives. 5. The theories augment the precision with which we use moral terms and they provide frame works for moral reasoning when discussing moral issues with colleagues. 6. By providing frame works for development of moral arguments, the theories strengthen our ability to reach balanced and insightful judgments
RELIGION and DIVINE COMMAND ETHICS
Ethics and Religion: Moral issues and religious belief are related in several positive ways. • First, they are shaped over time from the central moral values of major world religions. • Second, religious views often support moral responsibility by providing additional motivation for being moral. • Third, sometimes religions set a higher moral standard than is conventional. • Societies often benefit from a variety of religions that make prominent particular virtues, inspiring their members to pursue them beyond what is ordinarily seen as morally obligatory. Divine Command Ethic: • This says that an act which is right is commanded by god and the one which is wrong is forbidden by God. • The difficulty in this is to know precisely what God’s commands are and in knowing whether God exists. We can view that moral reasons are not reducible to religious matters, although religious belief may provide an added inspiration for responding to them.
CUSTOMS and ETHICAL RELATIVISM
Relativism: • Distinction between “morals” (“treatment of others”) and “mores” (“harmless customs”) Cultural (Descriptive) Relativism: • Factual Claims: “x is considered right in society y at time t” and “is considered wrong in society z at time t” • Empirical Conclusion: Moralities are relative • This is either true or false (anthropology –a study of mankind , its customs, beliefs, etc. Can figure it out) Normative (Ethical) Relativism: • Normative Claim: “What is considered right in society x at time t is right for that society” • A particular culture cannot be judged from outside of that culture. • ‘Ethical Relativism’ says that actions are morally right when they are approved by law and custom. • They are wrong when they violate laws and custom. • Ethical egoism tries to reduce moral reasons to matters of self-interest, ‘ethical relativism’ attempts to reduce moral values to laws, conventions and customs of particular societies. Consequences of Normative Relativism • We cannot say other “morals” are inferior to our own society’s • We decide the value of our actions based only on what our particular society thinks • We should show a lot of tolerance for different customs and outlooks in a society in which we live in. It means that customs can have moral significance in deciding how we should act. This view is called ‘ethical pluralism’. Reasons for Acceptance of Ethical Relativism The reasons professed for acceptance of ethical relativism is threefold. 1. Laws seem so tangible and clear-cut. They provide a public way ending seemingly endless disputes about rights and wrongs. But many times, moral reasons seem to be at variance with laws e.g. apartheid laws.…
Ethical Egoism
• A different view, which talks of morality as only the pursuit of self interest • Self-interest is a ‘rational concern’ requiring consideration of one’s long-term interests. E.g., taking bribe may appear to serve one’s self interest but it does not serve the long- term interest of self. Hence taking bribe is not acceptable since it would not do any good on a long-term. This was professed by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and Ayn Rand (1905-1982). Ayn Rand – with only one life to live, the individual is of utmost importance It is in one’s self-interest to adopt the Moral Point of View (Hobbes’ Social Contract)
SELF-INTEREST AND ETHICAL EGOISM
Psychological Egoism All of our actions can be reduced to self-interest • We always do what we most want to do. e.g., a man who helps others has chosen to do so, so he sees doing it, is in his self-interest • We do what makes us feel good. e.g., a man who helps others must get pleasure From doing it – hence it is in his self-interest The Problem of Counter Examples What about charity and pity? These require the egoist to distinguish selfish and unselfish acts from selfish and unselfish motives • Charity – I enjoy showing my power • Pity – I worry that it might happen to me So again, doing these, we act from self-interest Confusion over self-interest and selfishness • Not all actions are done from selfishness • Brushing my teeth (self-interested but not selfish) Also confusion over self-interest and pleasure • Not all actions are done from self-interest • Smoking cigarettes (pleasurable but not self-interested) • Self-interest = any interest the self has What do all major Ethical Theories say about this? All major theories acknowledge the importance of Self Interest. • Utilitarian’s take into account one’s own good as well as others. • Duty ethics emphasizes duties to ourselves. • Right ethicists talk about our rights to pursue our own good. • Virtue ethicists emphasize the importance of self-respect. But all these theories also emphasize that the pursuit of self-interest must be balanced…
EVALUATION OF ETHICAL THEORIES
We are basically not interested in which of the ethical theories is the best. It is believed that there are areas in which each theory complements others by how they differ. Procedure for General Evaluation: 1. The theory must be clear and formulated with concepts that are coherent and applicable. 2. It must be internally consistent in that none of its tenets contradicts any other. 3. Neither the theory nor its defense can rely upon false information. 4. It must be sufficiently comprehensive to provide guidance in specific situations of interest to us. 5. It must be compatible with our most carefully considered moral convictions about concrete situations.
RIGHTS ETHICS (JOHN LOCKE – 1632-1704)
• Everyone has inherent moral rights • Everyone has rights that arise from EXISTING (i.e. right to Life, maximum individual Liberty, and human Dignity are Fundamental Rights). • Other rights arise as a…
