ETHICS

Dr Hazwani Suhaimi
18 October 2024
WHAT IS MEANT BY ETHICS?
 Principles of conduct governing
behavior of an individual or a
group
 Principles of right and wrong
 Ethics in daily life

Examples of ethical issues we encounter in our daily lives:

- Misuse of money to defeat competitions or beat the law

- Using drugs to win sports tournaments
- A lawyer successfully defending a criminal

Why do we feel those issues are unethical?

- Unfair to those deserving

- Endangering lives of others
- Depriving future generations of their rights
INTRODUCTION TO THEORETICAL ETHICAL
FRAMEWORK
A theoretical framework is a model that explains (with a theory) the
relationship among specific concepts
or variables that are identified as important (to ethics)

Ethical frameworks provide support and guidance for ethical

decision making by enabling the important aspects of the
situation to be highlighted and evaluated

Ethical Theory or Approach

- Provides a system of rules or principles as a guide in making decisions about what is
right/wrong and good/bad in a specific situation
- Provides a basis for understanding what it means to be a morally decent human being

Six Different Approaches For Theoretical Ethical Framework

 Duty
 Rights
 Utilitarianism
 Autonomy
 Consent
 Virtues
 Basis and Principles of Different Ethical Approaches

1) Duty Approach
- Duty driven
- Places value on the intentions of the individual rather than the consequence of any action
- Focuses on duties, rules and obligations
- Assumes that acting because of duty = acting ethically
- Part of Deontology** ethics theory – justify action when at least some acts are morally
obligatory regardless of their consequences
(**Deontology = Study or science of duty. It requires absolute adherence to the duties, rules and
obligations)

Check list when applying this theory:

- Have I adhered to my duties, regulations, codes of ethics when taking my action?

2) Rights Approach
- Derived from the principle that people have their rights to choose
freely what they will do with their lives and they have a fundamental
moral right to have these choices respected

Examples of Types of Rights:

The right to the truth
The right of privacy
The right not to be injured
The right to what is agreed/promised

Check list when applying this theory:

- Have I observed the rights of others (individuals/society) when I take my action?
 3) Utilitarianism Approach
- Evaluates the morality of an act through its consequences
- Ethical action is one which brings the greatest benefit/well-being to the greatest number of people

Check list when applying this theory:

- Who will be affected by each action?
- What benefits or harms will be derived from each action?
-Have I chosen the action that will produce the greatest benefits and the least harm?

4) Autonomy Approach
- One of the 4 ethical principles in
Principalism theory
Theory :
- states that normal adults are capable of being fully self-governing in moral matters
- upholds the right of the individual to make their own decisions (We are all ‘autonomous’)

Autonomy involves two components:

a) No authority external to ourselves is needed to constitute or
inform us of the demands of morality
(We can each know without being told what we ought to do because moral requirements are
requirements we impose on ourselves)
b) In self-governing we can effectively control ourselves
Check list when applying this theory:
- Have I taken on board interests of society at large (and put aside my self-interests)?
 5) Consent Approach
- A basic component of the ethics of human relations, making permissible a
wide range of conduct that would otherwise be wrongful
-In engineering, e.g. marks the difference between participation in research
and being a human guinea pig
- Provision in many laws

Check list when applying this theory:

- Have I obtained the consent of all stakeholders for my action?

6) Virtues Approach
- Emphasises the moral character or virtues of the individual (e.g honesty,
courage, compassion, generosity, fidelity, fairness, self-control and prudence)
- Is about an individual of good character doing the right thing
- Assumes that the virtuous person is the ethical person

Check list when applying this theory:

- What kind of person should I be?
- What will promote the development of character within myself and my community?
ETHICS IN AN ENGINEERING COURSE????
We have been studying engineering,
such as design, analysis, and
performance measurement

Where does ethics fit in?

HOW ETHICS FITS INTO ENGINEERING

 Engineers ...

 Build products such as cell phones, home

appliances, heart valves, bridges & cars. In
general they advance society by building new
technology

 Develop processes, such as the process to

convert salt water into fresh water or the
process to recycle bottles. These processes
change how we live and what we can
accomplish
PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES HAVE
CONSEQUENCES FOR SOCIETY:

 If the bridge has an inadequate support, it will

fail
 If the gas tank is positioned too close to the
bumper, it might explode from a small accident
 If a medical instrument isn’t accurate, improper
doses of medication can be given
 If the process for refining gas produces too
much toxins, it harms the local community
Decisions made by
engineers usually have
serious consequences to
people -- often to multitudes
of people
Consider the March 11, 2011
8.9 magnitude earthquake
near Sendai, Japan
 15
The damage to the Fukushima I Nuclear
Power Plant (Fukushima Dai-ichi)
has led people worldwide to rethink the
ethics of nuclear power
Notice the issues that come up in these discussions:
ISSUE #1: HEALTH AND SAFETY

RISKS: Danger to current and future

generations from leakage of radio-

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isotopes used in nuclear power

Plutonium-239 (half-life = 24,110 yrs)

is a particularly toxic radio-isotope.
Normally, 10 half lives are required
before a Pu-239 contaminated area
is considered safe again, in the case
of plutonium, roughly 250,000 years

So if Pu leaked, -- say, due to an

earthquake -- it would cause a
health risk for roughly 8000
generations!!
Issues (cont.):

ISSUE #1: HEALTH AND SAFETY

RISKS, FURTHER

17
CONSIDERATIONS:

a) The possibility of medical

science discovering a cure for
cancer sometime in the current or
next centuries adds uncertainty to
the long-term health risks of
leakages of radio-active isotopes
Issues (cont.):

ISSUE #1: HEALTH AND SAFETY

RISKS, FURTHER

18
CONSIDERATIONS:

b) The use of nuclear power may

increase our knowledge of radio-
isotopes used for medical purposes
(possible benefit?)
Issues that come up in these discussions:

CONSEQUENCES OF
ALTERNATIVES TO NUCLEAR
POWER

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ISSUE #2: DEPLETION OF RESOURCES:

Fossil fuels, oil, natural gas and coal, are non-renewable. These
resources also affect the goal of health because of their impact on
pollution and climate changes
Issues that come up in these discussions:
CONSEQUENCES OF
ALTERNATIVES TO NUCLEAR
POWER.

ISSUE #3: COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC

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COSTS OF RENEWABLE SOURCES

Renewable sources such as hydro-electric-

power, wind power, solar power, geo-
thermal heat, agricultural biomass and tides
do not cause the environmental hazards
that fossil-fuels do

But renewable sources must be balanced with the amount of energy needed
to produce and maintain them and consequent environmental hazards.
Currently, for example, the energy required to manufacture and install solar
energy systems comes from fossil fuels
THE ESSENCE OF YOUR ENGINEERING
CAREER
 Engineering is one of the most important
professions in society

 As engineers we don’t just build things and

develop processes

 We build things and make processes in order to

better society

 In order to make society better we have to reflect

constantly on the products and processes that we
make
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
 One main connection between ethics and
engineering comes from the impact that
engineered products and processes have on
society

 Engineers have to think about designing,

building and marketing products that benefit
society

 Social Responsibility requires taking into

consideration the needs of society
TYPICAL ETHICAL ISSUES THAT
ENGINEERS ENCOUNTER
 Safety
 Acceptable risk

 Compliance

 Confidentiality

 Environmental health

 Data integrity

 Conflict of interest

 Honesty/Dishonesty

 Societal impact

 Fairness

 Accounting for uncertainty, etc.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
 Ethics has a second connection with engineering

 It comes from the way in which being socially

responsible puts duties and obligations on us
individually

 Ethics fits into engineering is through

professional responsibility
TWO DIMENSIONS OF ETHICS IN
ENGINEERING
 Ethics is part of engineering for two main
reasons

a) Engineers need to be socially responsible

when building products and processes for
society

b) Social responsibility requires professional

responsibility
ABET SAYS . . .

By the time of graduation

students will have an
understanding of professional
and ethical responsibility
ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
 There are many fields of engineering, such as
 Chemical
 Civil
 Mechanical
 Electrical
 Software
 Industrial

 However, there are many ethical issues that arise

across all of these fields of engineering

 The code of ethics for engineers pertains to

engineers of all kinds
THE ENGINEERING CODE OF ETHICS
The Engineering Code of Ethics has three
components:

 The Fundamental Canons: which articulate

the basic components of ethical engineering

 The Rules of Practice: which clarify and

specify in detail the fundamental canons of ethics
in engineering

 Professional Obligations: which elaborate the

obligations that engineers have
NSPE FUNDAMENTAL CANONS OF ETHICS
Engineers in the fulfillment of their professional
duties shall:
 Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the
public
 Perform services only in areas of their competence
 Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful
manner
 Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or
trustees
 Avoid deceptive acts
 Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and
lawfully, so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and
usefulness of the profession
TRY IT YOURSELF
 You are supervising a product with specifications
that only U.S.-made parts may be used
 Late in the project you discover a sub-contractor
has supplied a part with foreign-made bolts
 They aren’t very noticeable and would function
identically to U.S.-made bolts
 Your customer urgently needs the finished
product

What should you do?

Should you:
A. Say nothing and deliver the product with the
foreign bolts because the customer won’t notice
B. Find some roughly equivalent violation of the
contract/specs for which the customer is
responsible and tell them you will ignore their
violation if they ignore yours
C. Tell the customer about the problem, and let
them decide what you should do next
D. Find loopholes in the original specifications so
that your company hasn’t legally violated the
specs
 C (tell the customer) is the correct answer
because it lets the customer decide what is in
their best interest given new information

 This may be tough, because your job may be on

the line and your company’s reputation may be at
stake

Avoid deceptive acts

Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or
trustees
IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THE CODE OF
ETHICS
 It is not a legally binding document

 It is not something that we want (or need)

engineers to memorize

 It is something we want engineers to understand

and be able to live by as engineers

 However, in the beginning knowing the code is a

guide to understanding how to apply it
ETHICS TAKES PRACTICE
KNOWLEDGE VS. BEHAVIOR
 Unlike robots, no one can just program you to be
an ethical engineer that follows the codes

 It is possible to know the codes of ethics for

engineering (or being a student), yet fail to follow
them

 Ethical behavior is about practice and virtue. It

is about going beyond the codes, and practicing
behavior that leads to an ethical life
THE EXAMPLE OF INTEGRITY
 A building has structural integrity when it is
designed in way such that it appropriately
responds to the stresses and loads that it is
designed to act under

 Just as a building can have poor integrity or good

integrity. A person can also

 A person has integrity when she/he can follow the

codes he/she is supposed to follow under the
stresses and loads of his/her role
PLAGIARISM & CHEATING
 Many components go into being a good student

 One of the most important, as reflected by the

codes of ethics for engineers (or any others), is to
be competent in your own field

 To be competent, it is necessary that one actually

knows what they claim to know

 Proving to others that you know what you are

supposed to know requires certification through a
degree
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
 70% of American high school seniors admit to
cheating on at least one test
 95% of the students who said they cheated were
never caught
 An average of 75% of college students report
cheating sometime during their college career
CHEATING IS WRONG?

Cheating also undermines the

work of fellow students who are
honest

When you cheat, all the other students who didn’t

cheat are penalized. They end up getting lower
grades. As a consequence of lower grades they
lose out on scholarships and recommendations
CHEATING VS. TEAMWORK
 Working on a team for an assigned project is not
cheating

 However, failing to do your assigned task on a

team project is a form of cheating. It is called
free-riding, which is benefiting from the work of
others without doing any work of your own

 Teamwork is important, but free-riding is wrong,

since if everyone did it nothing would get done
COPYING

One obvious type of cheating

that we all recognize is copying
someone’s work on a homework
assignment, exam, or paper

Submitting someone’s work as

your own is a kind of cheating
MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS

Submitting your own work from

one class to another class or
submitting one piece of work to
two distinct classes is a kind of
cheating

A paper for one class is not a

paper for another class
UNAUTHORIZED SOURCES
Using sources that one is not
allowed to use as deemed by the
instructor or the university as a
whole is a kind of cheating, such as
solution manuals

Also a text message from your

friend with the answer to a
question on the exam is a form of
cheating
ALTERING GRADES

Altering your grade in any way

is a form of cheating

If you are given a C on your

homework, paper, or exam and
then you change your grade to a
B+, you have cheated
SURROGATE

Surrogate cheating occurs when

someone else either does your
homework, takes an exam for
you, or writes your paper

Doing someone’s work for them

is a kind of cheating
WHY IS CHEATING WRONG?

Cheating undermines the

credibility of the university and
the degrees it awards

If too many people cheat at SJSU, then the

degrees awarded by SJSU won’t certify that its
students are competent. So, by cheating you not
only hurt yourself, you also hurt others
ETHICS – COURAGE & INTEGRITY
 As we will be seeing more and more being ethical
requires:

 Courage to do the right thing the situation

calls for

&

 The integrity to withstand the pressures that

push you in the wrong direction