RELEVANT INFORMATION
Conscientiousness is blind without relevant factual information. Moral concern involves a commitment to obtain and assess all available pertinent information. Another dimension to factual information is the consequences of what one does. While regarding engg as social experimentation points out the importance of context, it also urges the engineer to view his or her specialized activities in a project as part of a larger whole having a social impact that may involve a variety of unintended effects. It may be better to practice ‘defensive engg’ (Chauncy Starr) or ‘preventive engg’ (Ruth Davis).
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Conscientious moral commitment means sensitivity to the full range of relevant moral values. Sensitivity to responsibilities that is relevant. Willingness to develop the skill and expend the effort needed to reach the best balance possible among these considerations. Conscientiousness means consciousness because mere intent is not sufficient. Conceiving engineering as social experimentation restores the vision of engineers as guardians of the public interest in that they are duty bound to guard the welfare and safety of those affected by engg projects.
Conditions defining Informed or Valid Consent
a. The consent is given voluntarily b. The consent is based on information a rational person would want, together with any other information requested and presented to them in understandable form. c. The consenter was competent to process the information and make rational decisions. d. Information has been widely disseminated. e. The subject’s consent is offered by proxy by a group that collectively represents many subjects like interests, concerns and exposure to risk. ‘Engineering experiments are not conducted to gain new knowledge unlike scientific experiments’. Is this distinction necessary? This distinction is not vital because we are concerned about the manner in which the experiment is conducted, such as valid consent of human subjects being sought, safety measures taken and means exist for terminating the experiment at any time and providing all participants a safe exit. Features of morally responsible engineers in social experimentation Conscientiousness: A primary obligation to protect the safety of human subjects and respect their right of consent. Relevant information: A constant awareness of the experimental nature of any project, imaginative forecasting of its possible side effects and a reasonable effort to monitor them. Moral autonomy: Autonomous, personal involvement in all steps of the project. Accountability: Accepting accountability for the results of the project.
CONTRASTS WITH STANDARD EXPERIMENTS
1. EXPERIMENTAL CONTROL: In standard experiments, members are in two different groups. Members of one group receive special experimental treatment. The other group members, called ‘control group’ do not receive special treatment, though they are from the same environment in all other respects. But this is not true in engineering, since most of the experiments are not conducted in laboratories. The subjects of experiments are human beings who are outside the experimenter’s control. Thus it is not possible to study the effects of changes in variable on different groups. Hence only historical and retrospective data available about various target groups has to be used for evaluation. Hence engineering as a social experimentation seems to be an extended usage of the concept of experimentation. 2. INFORMED CONSENT: has two elements, knowledge and voluntariness. The subjects (human beings) should be given all the information needed to make a reasonable decision. Next, they must get into the experiment without being subjected to force, fraud or deception. Supplying complete information is neither necessary nor in most cases possible. But all relevant information needed for making a reasonable decision on whether to participate should be conveyed. Generally, we all prefer to be the subject of our own experiments rather…
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.…
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…
CUSTOMS and ETHICAL RELATIVISM
Relativism: • Distinction between “morals” (“treatment of others”) and “mores” (“harmless customs”) Cultural (Descriptive) Relativism:…
