Engineering Ethics

Philosophical analysis of the nature of engineering can be of great benefit in identifying the ethical opportunities and challenges that it offers. The overall nature of engineering will be explored using concepts provided by the work of two leading contemporary philosophers. First, the structure of engineering will be elucidated by considering it as a practice, of the type first proposed by Alasdair MacIntyre. This will lead to a description of engineering activities in terms of goals, internal goods, external goods, virtues, institutions and systematic extension. Secondly, Amartya Sen's concept of capabilities will be used to describe the role that engineering can have in promoting both the wellbeing and the agency of others. Consideration of agency is of great benefit in describing an essentially enabling activity such as engineering. Further building on Sen’s work, it will be proposed that the idea of an opportunity of professional capabilities can guide the development of the ethical aspects of the practice of engineering. It will be suggested that in certain dire circumstances this may become an obligation of professional capabilities. Finally, the work of Sidney Loeb, a pioneer of an innovative type of engineering, will be described to illustrate the application of the analysis of the practice of engineering and to provide an example of the fulfilment of an opportunity of professional capabilities.

Engineering can make many contributions to the conditions that promote good health, including the provision of clean water and sanitation, buildings that provide shelter and improvements to the effective growth and storage of food. Engineering can also make important contributions to the care that is needed when health fails. Indeed, such contributions are increasingly leading to greater entanglement of the activities of engineers and healthcare professionals. Some key aspects of recent technological innovation in healthcare will be considered: assistive technologies, telehealthcare and quasi-autonomous systems. The ethical challenges and opportunities that arise when such technologies are introduced will be analysed. One of the most attractive opportunities is that such innovation can bring engineers into much closer interaction with the beneficiaries of their work. Furthermore, in such work it is very important to prioritise the agency of beneficiaries. Another important issue is that engineering activities can in some circumstances have deleterious effects on health, mostly as unintended consequences of otherwise desirable activities. Hence, a further form of entanglement of the activities of engineers and healthcare professionals is the increased awareness in the medical profession of the effects of engineering policy and activities on health. One example of such awareness will be analysed, the effects of transport infrastructure and policy on health. This suggests that transport policy should prioritise ability to access and physically active transport rather than the ability to travel, hence effectively promoting both the welfare and agency of beneficiaries.

Billions of people around the world suffer from extreme poverty. Such poverty is characterised by hunger, sickness, lack of shelter and clothing, low incomes, low achievements in education, vulnerability, voicelessness and powerlessness. The causes of such poverty are many, and include political, social, economic and environmental factors. International organisations, governments and non-governmental organisations that are involved in ameliorating such poverty tend to focus on political and economic remedies. However, engineering has a very important role to play, for it can provide practical solutions to the needs of people suffering from extreme poverty. As such poverty is a major injustice, it presents a clear case of an opportunity of professional capabilities for engineers. Indeed, as the consequences of such poverty are so appalling, it may better be considered an obligation of professional capabilities for engineers. The role that better provision of energy can play in the amelioration of poverty will be used to provide an example of the nature and magnitude of the issues. Energy is a key enabler: all countries that have moved their populations out of poverty in modern times have done so whilst greatly increasing access to a diversity of energy supplies, replacing human and animal labour with more powerful energy sources. Furthermore, such energy provision requires the collaboration of many different types of engineers, including civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and chemical engineers. It is, therefore, a need to which large numbers of the profession can contribute. Some of the many other ways in which engineering can contribute to the amelioration of extreme poverty will be outlined. The analysis of engineering as an ethical practice will be used to consider how individual engineers and engineering institutions can best contribute to meet such pressing human needs. Finally, some valuable lessons that may be learnt from African approaches to ethics will be considered.

This book proposes an analysis of the ethical nature of engineering and seeks to show how the analysis applies to engineering for peace, engineering for health and engineering for development. However, some academic observers, including a few engineers have argued that there are a number of reasons why engineers cannot in practice truly accept and express ethical responsibility. These arguments will be investigated using an example given by Alasdair MacIntyre and by considering and developing an analysis presented by the philosopher Michael Davis. It will be concluded that the objections are flawed and that engineers really do have opportunities to accept and express ethical responsibility. Nevertheless, engineers are subjected to pressures in their professional life that can make this ethical task difficult. It is therefore of benefit if engineers participate in a base community—a community in which ethical discourse is promoted and in which generous ethical action is stimulated. Two examples of such base communities will be considered: trade unions and faith communities. Two specific cases, the Lucas plan and Benedictine business practices, will be described to show that such base communities can greatly enhance innovation in the acceptance and expression of ethical responsibility in engineering. The Lucas plan shows that engineers are able to make highly innovative proposals that show great prospects for socially beneficial application, sustainable employment and sustainable profitability when they have the motivation and opportunity to think creatively about their work. Benedictine business practices can demonstrably promote technical excellence, ethical engagement and commercial success in a sustainable manner and so provide a real alternative to conventional corporate practice.

Engineers who wish to promote imaginative innovation in the acceptance and expression of ethical responsibility in their profession need to convince others, especially their fellow engineers and decision makers, of the validity and practicality of their ethical vision. Participation in base communities, such as trade unions and faith communities, can promote innovative ethical discourse and generous ethical action in what might be termed a bottom-up approach. It is also important to make use of what might be termed top-down approaches. The first to be considered will be the broad international consensus on the validity and value of human rights. In particular, the recent international application of human rights approaches to business activities provides an important means of expressing the ethical challenges and opportunities for engineers in an universally understood language. Such a human rights approach can be readily understood by business managers and politicians and has the additional advantage of legal backing. The second approach to be considered will aim more specifically to find a means of convincing Western politicians of the scope for engineering to contribute to human flourishing. This is a difficult task as most leading Western politicians have a very poor knowledge of the nature of engineering. Based on the writings of a leading ethically engaged twentieth century politician, Aneurin Bevan, and a leading political theorist, Joseph S. Nye, it will be suggested that the best way to communicate with politicians is to use the language of political power. Engineering can be both a power resource and a means of power conversion and hence of realising power. Extending Nye’s concepts of soft power, smart power and relational power, it will be proposed that engineers should engage politicians through discussion of engineering power, the ability to attain preferred outcomes though the peaceful use of engineering capabilities.

The final chapter will be concerned with the future prospects for increasing the acceptance and expression of ethical responsibility by engineers, particularly in an extended time frame. Each of the themes of the preceding chapters will be addressed followed by consideration of some underlying issues. The key suggestions will include: broadening of the intellectual basis of engineering education; inclusion of the promotion of peace as an internal good of engineering; seeking close cooperation with other professionals, particularly in healthcare; engagement with UN initiatives beyond the Millennium Development Goals; development of business models that promote the ethical practice of engineering; and increased involvement of engineers in social and political movements. Most important of all, the future ethical practice of engineering requires the acceptance and expression of responsibility by every engineer.