Engineering and ethics

3. Topics in engineering ethics

One topic of engineering ethics is the status of the code of ethics itself. (There are, in fact, several codes, though differences are relatively small.) Is a code just a statement of what morality would require of engineers, code or no code, or does it demand more of engineers than morality does? If it demands more, on what basis, if any, can it claim obedience from engineers? Is the claim legal or moral? If moral, does it rest on an implicit promise or on some other moral consideration (see Promising)?

Almost any code of engineering ethics provides a good checklist of major topics of engineering ethics. We may divide the other topics into four large categories. The first category concerns obligations to the public. Though the first codes of ethics emphasized personal honour and loyalty to client or employer, today most emphasize the public health, safety and welfare. Indeed, many codes make that consideration ‘paramount’. Among questions dealt with under this obligation are: Who are the public? (Citizens of other countries or just fellow citizens? Employees of one’s own company or just ‘ordinary people’?) How safe is ‘safe’ (see Risk)? What is the public welfare? Does treating the public health, safety or welfare as paramount mean that an engineer must sometimes blow the whistle on his employer?

The second category concerns obligations to employer or client. Engineers are supposed to be faithful agents or trustees of their employer or client. Not only should they protect trade secrets, maintain confidentiality, avoid (or, at least, reveal) conflicts of interest, make clear the limits of their expertise, and try to use resources efficiently, they should also make sure that an employer or client understands the full implications of any decision in which an engineer is involved. Where an employer or client is a large corporation, there are special problems of determining who must understand for the employer or client to understand.

The third category concerns obligations to other engineers. Not only should engineers not discriminate against one another or compete unfairly; they have an obligation to provide engineers under their supervision with opportunities for professional development.

The fourth category, obligations to the profession, is a miscellany of questions. Engineers have an obligation to increase the competence and prestige of the engineering profession. Are they then sometimes obliged to reveal their employer’s trade secrets to the profession? Engineers have an obligation to make public statements on engineering matters only in an objective and truthful manner. How forceful can an engineer’s manner become without ceasing to be objective? Do engineers have an obligation to participate in engineering societies? What is the relation of this obligation to that of faithful agent and trustee of the employer or client?