0401 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

B TECH IT
IV YEAR
VII SEMESTER
 Department of Information Technology

 Lecturer Name: Dr. V. Ganapathy

 Designation: Professor/Dept of IT.
 Subject Coordinator for:
IT0401Professional Ethics
 Room No: TP 506-A
 Contact No. 044-2741 1703
 Email id:
[email protected]

2
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ENGINEERING ETHICS

The global issues and environmental changes are posing

great challenges to Engineers of today to shift their focus
from basic engineering to applied and ethical engineering
solutions.
Till recent past, the engineers have focussed on the
basic knowledge in science and technology to understand
its utility.
Engineers have now come a long way in realigning
themselves to the needs of Health, Safety and
Environment and be a responsible citizenship.
This obviously brings the importance of professional
ethics and moral issues on their decisions.
3
With enormous increase of activities at all
levels,
National and Global, the impact of varieties of
laws and ramifications of modern growth of
intellectual property rights and international
conventions and agreements between nations,
there is a greater need and importance for
acquiring Professional Ethics and observance of
the required modalities,
to achieve real progress and proper
achievements thereof.
4
In the UG engineering curriculum, the
engineers get training in basic as well as
engineering sciences, problem and problem
solving methodology and engineering design,
but at the same time they normally get very
limited exposure to business practices, safety
and ethical issues.
In most of the foreign countries many of the
engineering institutions, courses on engineering
ethics is mandatory by ABET . (Accreditation
Board for Engineering and Technology).
5
 DISCLAIMER

The contents of the slides are

solely for the purpose of
teaching students at SRM
University. All copyrights and
Trademarks of
organizations/persons apply
even if not specified explicitly.

6
SCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
Science is a systematic & specialized
way of thinking. A scientist thinks &
makes principles and hypothesis.
Engineering means the practical
implementation of principles and
hypothesis for the welfare of the
human beings. At first an Engineer
makes drawings on the basis of
principles and then takes it to real
world for use. 7
Technology always deals with Optimization
(Maximum Gain with Minimum Effort) with the
help of newer supports like computers, transfer
machines etc.
IT is the application of computers towards
organizing and efficient retrieval/reporting of
information.
IT refers to the Creation, Gathering, Processing,
Storing, Protecting, Presenting and
Dissemination of information using hardware,
software and telecommunication technologies.

8
 UNIT – I
ENGINEERING ETHICS

9
 Department of Information Technology

IT 0401 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS 2 0 0 2

UNIT 1 ENGINEERING ETHICS 6
Senses of ‘Engineering Ethics’-Variety of Moral
Issues-Types Of Inquiry-Moral Dilemmas- Moral
Autonomy-Kohlberg’s Theory-Gilligan’s Theory-
Consensus And Controversy- Professions And
Professionalism-Professional Ideals And Virtues-
Theories About Right Action-Self-Interest-Customs
And Religion-Uses Of Ethical Theories.

10
CONTENTS
 Senses of ‘Engineering Ethics’
 Variety of Moral Issues
 Types of inquiry
 Moral dilemmas
 Moral autonomy
 Kohlberg’s theory
 Gilligan’s theory
 Professions and professionalism
 Professional ideals and virtues
 Theories about right action
 Self-interest
 Customs and religion
 Uses of ethical theories
11
SENSES OF ETHICS
• Ethics is an activity of
– Understanding the moral values
– Resolve the moral issues
– Justify the moral judgment
• Ethics refers to a set of beliefs, attitudes, and
habits that a person or group displays Concerning
morality.
• Ethics is a purely factual matter about explaining
beliefs and actions related to morality.
• Ethics refers to being “morally correct”
– People’s action can be spoken as “ethical” or
“unethical”
– Individuals can be evaluated as “ethical” or
“unethical”

12
WHAT IS ENGINEERING ETHICS
 Engineering Ethics is an activity of
 Understanding the moral values that
ought to guide the engineering
profession
 Resolving the moral issues in the
profession
 Justifying the moral judgment
concerning the profession.

13
Moral: Relates to the standards of
good or bad behavior, fairness,
honesty etc., which each person
believes in, rather than to laws.
MORALS: are the standards for
good or bad character and
behavior.
Moral of a story: Honesty is
always the best policy
Department of Information 14
 Department of Information Technology

MORALITY
 Morality is concerned with
principles and practices of morals
such as:
 What ought or ought not to be done in
a given situation?
 What is right or wrong about the
handling of a situation?
 What is good or bad about the people,
policies, and ideals involved?

15
MORALITY VS. ETHICS

16
MORAL REASONING
• “Engineering design is a good one”
– Meets Specifications – Technical Value

– Specifications have moral content - Moral Reasons

• Designed in such a way that a safe, reliable and

environmental friendly product can be produced

• Moral Reasons Require us

 to respect other people as well as ourselves,

 to care for their good as well as their own.

 Respecting persons by being fair and just with them,

 respecting their rights,

 keeping promises,

 avoiding unnecessary offense and pain to them,

 avoiding cheating and dishonesty

17
 APPROACHES TO MORAL ISSUES
 Two Approaches to engineering
ethics:
 Typical, everyday problems that can
take on significant proportions in an
engineer’s life [MICRO ETHICS]
 Societal Problems that are often
shunted aside and are not addressed
until they unexpectedly resurface
[MACRO ETHICS]

18
 HOW DO MORAL PROBLEMS ARISE
IN ENGINEERING
• Examples
1. Faulty construction equipment

2. Applying for a permit to operate a nuclear

power plant
3. Chemical plant dumping wastes in a landfill

4. Advertisements from an electronic company

for a product which is not ready for sale
• Engineer might be faced with contrary opinions
1) Within the firm

2) From the client

3) From other firms within the industry

19
VARITIES OF MORAL ISSUES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH
OTHER
Department ISSUES
of Information
 Department of Information Technology

VARIETY OF MORAL ISSUES

 It would be relevant to know why
and how do moral issues
(problems) arise in a profession or
why do people behave unethically?
 The reasons for people including
the employer and employees,
behaving unethically may be
classified into three categories:

21
 Department of Information Technology

 Due to pressure, through time

limits, availability of money or
budgetary constraints, and
 technology decay or obsolescence.
Pressure from the government to
complete the project in time (e.g.,
before the elections),
 reduction in the budget because of
sudden war or natural calamity
(e.g., Tsunami) and

22
 Department of Information Technology

 obsolescence due to technology

innovation by the competitor lead
to manipulation and unsafe and
unethical execution of projects.
 Involving individuals in the
development of goals and values
and developing policies that allow
for individual diversity, dissent,
 and input to decision-making will
prevent unethical results.
23
 2. OPPORTUNITY
Department of Information Technology

 (a) Double standards or behavior of the

employers towards the employees and
the public.
 The unethical behaviors of World Com (in
USA), Enron (in USA as well as India)
executives in 2002 resulted in
bankruptcy for those companies,
 (b) Management projecting their own
interests more than that of their
employees. Some organizations over-
emphasize short-term gains and results
at the expense of themselves and others,

24
 Department of Information Technology
2. OPPORTUNITY(CONTINUED)
 (c) Emphasis on results and gains at the
expense of the employees, and
 (d) Management by objectives, without
focus on empowerment and
improvement of the infrastructure.
 This is best encountered by developing
policies that allow ‘conscience keepers’
and whistle blowers and appointing
ombudsman, who can work
confidentially with people to solve the
unethical problems internally.

25
 Department of Information Technology

3. ATTITUDE
 Poor attitude of the employees set in
due to
 (a) Low morale of the employees
because of dissatisfaction and
downsizing,
 (b) Absence of grievance redressal
mechanism,
 (c) Lack of promotion or career
development policies or denied
promotions,
 (d) Lack of transparency,

26
 Department of Information Technology

3. ATTITUDE (CONTINUED)
 (e) Absence of recognition and reward system,
and
 (f) Poor working environments.
 HOW TO OBVIATE THE ABOVE SHORTCOMINGS
 Giving ethics training for all, recognizing ethical
conduct in work place, including ethics in
performance appraisal, and encouraging open
discussion on ethical issues, are some of the
directions to promote positive attitudes among
the employees.
 To get firm and positive effect, ethical standards
must be set and adopted by the senior
management, with input from all personnel.

27
 CHALLENGES ON HANDLING
MORAL ISSUES
 To what extent can a supervisor be an
authoritative guide to engineer’s conduct ?
 What does one do when there are differences
of judgement ?
 Should one always follow the law to the
letter?
 Is an engineer to do no more than what the
specifications say, even if there are problems
more serious than those initially anticipated?
 How far does an engineer’s responsibility
extend into the realm of influencing the social
impact of the projects he or she participates
in?

28
 TYPES OF INQUIRIES
 The three types of inquiries [request for help
or information], in solving ethical problems
are:
 Normative inquiry
 Conceptual inquiry
 Factual or descriptive inquiry
 Engineering Ethics combines inquiries into
values, meanings and facts. In order to find
answers to many moral dilemmas, it is
necessary to understand the types of inquiry
 We have to explore how the ethical problems often
arise in the engineering profession.
 .

29
 NORMATIVE INQUIRY
 It seeks to identify and
justify the morally-desirable
norms or standards that
should guide individuals and
groups.
 It also has the theoretical
goal of justifying particular
moral judgments.

30
 NORMATIVE INQUIRY
Example:
How far does the obligation of engineers to protect
public safety extend in any given situation?
When, if ever, should engineers be expected to blow
whistle on dangerous practices of their employers?
Whose values ought to be primary in making judgment
about acceptable risks in design for a public transport
system or a nuclear plant? Is it of management, senior
engineers, government, voters or all of them?
When and why is the government justified in
interfering with the organizations?
What are the reasons on which the engineers show
their obligations to their employees or clients or the
31
public?
CONCEPTUAL INQUIRY
• It is directed to clarify the meaning of
concepts or ideas or principles that
are expressed by words or by
questions and statements.
• Examples:
– What is meant by safety?
– How is it related to risk?
– What is a bribe?
– What is a profession?
• When moral concepts are discussed,
normative and conceptual issues are
closely interconnected.

32
 FACTUAL OR DESCRIPTIVE INQUIRY
• It is aimed to obtain facts needed for
understanding and resolving value issues.
• Researchers conduct factual inquiries using
mathematical or statistical techniques.
• The inquiry provides important information on

1)business realities,

2)engineering practice, and

3)the effectiveness of professional societies in

 fostering moral conduct,

 the procedures used in risk assessment, and

 psychological profiles of engineers.

33
 Factual or Descriptive Inquiry
• The facts provide not only the reasons for
moral problems but also enable us to
develop alterative ways of resolving moral
problems.
• Example
1.How were the benefits assessed?
2.What are procedures followed in risk
assessment?
3.What are short-term and long-term
effects of drinking water being polluted?
4.Who conducted the tests on34
MORAL DILEMMA
• Dilemmas are situations in which
 Moral reasons come into conflict
 The application of moral values are
problems, and one is not clear of the
immediate choice or solution of the
problems.
 Moral reasons could be rights, duties,
goods or obligations.
 These situations do not mean that things
had gone wrong, but they only indicate
the presence of moral complexity. This
makes the decision making complex.

35
SITUATIONS LEADING TO MORAL DILEMMA
The three complex situations
leading to moral dilemmas
are:
1. The problem of  vagueness
• One is unable to distinguish between
good and bad (right or wrong)
principle. Good means an action that
is obligatory. For example, code of
ethic specifies that one should obey
the laws and follow standards.
Refuse bribe or accept the gift, and
maintain confidentiality

36
 Situations leading to Moral Dilemma
2. he problem of conflicting reasons
• One is unable to choose between two good moral
solutions. One has to fix priority, through knowledge
or value system.

3. The problem of disagreement 

• There may be two or more solutions and none of
them mandatory. These solutions may be better or
worse in some respects but not in all aspects. One
has to interpret, apply different moral reasons, and
analyze and rank the decisions. Select the best
suitable, under the existing and the most probable
conditions. 37
STEPS TO SOLVE DILEMMA
 Identification of the moral factors and
reasons.
 Collection of all information, data, and
facts
 Rank the moral options
 Generate alternate courses of action to
resolve the dilemma
 Discuss with colleagues and obtain their
perspectives, priorities, and suggestions
on various alternatives
 Decide upon a final course of action,
based on priority fixed or assumed

38
MORAL AUTONOMY
• Moral autonomy is defined as, decisions and
actions exercised on the basis of moral concern
for other people and recognition of good moral
reasons.
• Alternatively, moral autonomy means ‘self
determinant or independent’.
• The autonomous people hold moral beliefs and
attitudes based on their critical reflection rather
than on passive adoption of the conventions of
the society or profession.
• Moral autonomy may also be defined as a skill
and habit of thinking rationally about the ethical
issues, on the basis of moral concern.

39
MORAL AUTONOMY Department of Information Technology

 Autonomy means self-governing or self-

determining i.e. act independently.
 It deals with the improvement of an
individual’s moral thoughts which make
him to adopt good habits.
 Moral autonomy is concerned with the
independent attitude of a person related
to ethical issues.
 It helps to improve the self-
determination among the individuals.
individuals
40
MORAL AUTONOMY

 If management views profitability

is more important than consistent
quality and retention of the
customers that discourage the
moral autonomy, engineers are
compelled to seek the support from
their professional societies and
outside organizations for moral
support.
41
KOHLBERG THEORY
 Moral Autonomy is based on the
psychology of moral development
 Kohlberg suggested that there are three
levels of moral development, based on
the type of reasoning and motivation of
the individuals in response to moral
questions.
 Pre-conventional
 Conventional
 Post-conventional

42
Pre-Conventional
– Right conduct for an individual is
regarded as whatever directly benefits
oneself.
– At this level, individuals are motivated
by obedience or the desire to avoid
punishment or to satisfy their own
needs
– All young children exhibit this tendency .
– It is nothing but self-centered
attitude. In this level, right conduct
is very essential for an individual
which directly benefits him.

43
 Department of Information Technology

– According to this level, individuals are

motivated by their willingness to avoid
punishment, or by their desire to
satisfy their own needs or by the
influence of the power exerted by
them.
– This level is related to the moral
development of children and some
adults who never want to go beyond a
certain limit.
44
Conventional:
People respect the law and authority
The level deals with the respect for conventional rules
and authority. As per this level the rules and norms of
one’s family or group or society has been accepted as the
final standard of morality.
These conventions are regarded as correct, because they
represent with authority. When individuals are under
this level, they always want to please / satisfy others and
also to meet the expectations of the society and not their
self-interest.
Loyalty and close identification with others have been
given much importance. No adult tries to go beyond this
level.
45
 Post Conventional
Department of Information Technology

. People begin to account for the

differing values, opinions and beliefs of
other people.
At the post-conventional level, people
are called autonomous.
They think originally and want to live by
universally good principles and welfare
of others.
They have no self-interest. They live by
principled conscience. 46
 Department of Information Technology

They follow the golden rule, ‘Do unto

others as you would have them do unto
you’.
They maintain moral integrity, self-
respect and respect for others.
Kohlberg believed that individuals could
only progress through these stages, one
stage at a time. He believed that most of the
moral development occurs through social
interactions.
interactions 47
Department of Information Technology

48
KOHLBERG THEORY
• The following is one example of the
dilemmas Kohlberg presented.
•

"Heinz Steals the Drug”

 In Europe, a woman was near death
from a special kind of cancer.
 There was one drug that the doctors
thought might save her.
 It was a form of radium that a druggist
in the same town had recently discovered.
 The drug was expensive to make, but
the druggist was charging ten times
what the drug cost him to make.
 He paid $200 for the radium and
charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug.
49
 Kohlberg Theory
The sick woman's husband, Heinz,
went to everyone he knew to
borrow the money, but he could
only get together about $ 1,000
which is half of what it cost.
He told the druggist that his wife
was dying and asked him to sell it
cheaper or let him pay later. But
the druggist said: "No, I discovered
the drug and I'm going to make
money from it."
 Kohlberg Theory
So Heinz got desperate and broke into the
man's store to steal the drug-for his
wife.
“Should the husband have done that?”
“Was the theft morally right or wrong?”
• Kohlberg was not interested so much in the answer to
the question of whether Heinz was wrong or right,
but in the reasoning for each participant's
decision. The responses were then classified into
various stages of reasoning in his theory of moral
development.
Department of Information 51
 Department of Information Technology

By asking this question among the

male, Kohlberg has received two
sets of answers:
• One is based on the conventional
level i.e. Heinz did a wrong thing.
•Another one is based on the post
conventional level
i.e. Heinz was correct as the life of
his wife is more important than the
property right of the pharmacist. 52
But when the same question was asked
Department of Information Technology

among the women, they gave (all women)

same answers.
They replied that Heinz was wrong. They
further told that instead of stealing the
medicine, Heinz could have tried other
alternative solutions.
They also told that Heinz should have
convinced still the pharmacist to get the
medicine.
From the above, Kohlberg concluded that
women’s decisions are always based on
conventional rules and they always have
different opinions in applying the general
moral rules and principles about the right to live. 53
 KOHLBERG THEORY
• Level 1. Preconventional Morality

Stage 1 - Obedience and Punishment

The earliest stage of moral development is
especially common in young children, but
adults are also capable of expressing this
type of reasoning. At this stage, children see
rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying the
rules is important because it is a means to
avoid punishment.

Stage 2 - Individualism and Exchange

At this stage of moral development, children
account for individual points of view and
judge actions based on how they serve
individual needs. In the Heinz dilemma,
children argued that the best course of
action was the choice that best-served
Heinz’s needs. 54
 Kohlberg Theoryy
• Level 2. Conventional Morality
Stage 3 - Interpersonal Relationships
often referred to as the "good-boy good-girl"
orientation, this stage of moral development is
focused on living up to social expectations and
roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being
"nice," and consideration of how choices influence
relationships.
Stage 4 - Maintaining Social Order
At this stage of moral development, people begin
to consider society as a whole when making
judgments. The focus is on maintaining law and
order by following the rules, doing one’s duty and
Department of Information 55
respecting authority.
• Level 3. Post conventional Morality
Stage 5 - Social Contract and Individual
Rights
At this stage, people begin to account for
the differing values, opinions and beliefs of
other people. Rules of law are important
for maintaining a society, but members of
the society should agree upon these
standards.

Stage 6 - Universal Principles

Kolhberg’s final level of moral reasoning is
based upon universal ethical principles and
abstract reasoning. At this stage, people
follow these internalized principles of
justice, even if they conflict with laws and
rules.
  56
• Gilligan observes that Kohlberg's stages
were derived exclusively from interviews
with males, and she charges that the
stages reflect a decidedly male orientation .
• For males, advanced moral thought
revolves around rules, rights, and abstract
principles. The ideal is formal justice, in
which all parties evaluate one another's
claims in an impartial manner.
• This conception of morality, Gilligan
argues, fails to capture the distinctly
female voice on moral matters.
57
 GILLIGAN’S THEORY
 Gilligan says
 morality centers not on rights and
rules but on interpersonal relationships
and the ethics of compassion and care.
 The ideal is not impersonal (not having
human characteristics) justice but
more affiliate ways of living.
 Women's morality, in addition, is more
contextualized; it is tied to real, ongoing
relationships rather than abstract solutions
to hypothetical dilemmas.

58
GILLIGAN’S THEORY
 Understanding the needs, interests, and
welfare of another person, and
understanding the relationship between
oneself and that other requires a stance
toward that person informed by care, love,
empathy [social radar], compassion, and
emotional sensitivity.
 It involves, for example, the ability to see
the other as different in important ways
from oneself, as a being existing in her
own right, rather than viewing her through
a simple projection of what one would feel
if one were in her situation.

59
Department of Information Technology

60
KOHLBERG’S THEORY VS. GILLIGAN'S THEORY

• For Kohlberg the mode of reasoning which

generates principles governing right
action involves formal rationality alone.
Emotions play at most a remotely
secondary role in both the derivation and
motivation for moral action.
• For Gilligan, by contrast, morality
necessarily involves an intertwining of
emotion, cognition, and action, not readily
separable. Knowing what to do involves
knowing others and being connected in
ways involving both emotion and
cognition.

61
COMPARISONS
CONSENSUS AND CONTROVERSY
 Consensus means agreement.

 Controversy means Disagreement.

Moral disagreements are natural
and common.
 The ethics make the engineers
realize the importance of tolerance
among them in case of
disagreement while applying moral
autonomy.

64
 Department of Information Technology

 In exercising the moral autonomy, one is

not likely to obtain the same results as by
others. This situation is likely to end in
controversy.
 In this case, good amount of tolerance
among individuals who are autonomous,
reasonable and responsible is necessary.
 This does not mean forcing the engineers
to reach unique moral solutions. Many
reasonable solutions are possible in a
given ethical problem.

65
OCCUPATION (JOB ) VS. PROFESSION
Department of Information Technology

Professionalism can only be applied (achieved)

to certain occupations which meet the
following criteria –[Attributes of a profession]
• Knowledge: The work involves
exercising sophisticated skills,
theoretical knowledge and judgment and
discretion that is not entirely routine or
subject to mechanization.
• Organization: Special societies and
organizations controlled by members of
the profession are allowed by the public
to play a major role in setting standards
for admission to the profession.
• Public Good: The occupation serves
some important aspects of public good
as indicated in the codes of ethics. 66
MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA
 The following criteria have been proposed
for being an engineer or professional
engineer.
 Earning bachelor’s degree in engineering
at a school approved by the (ABET, AICTE,
NAC etc.).
 Performing commonly recognized tasks as
what engineers do.
 Being officially registered and licensed as a
Professional Engineer(PE).
 Acting in morally responsible ways while
practicing engineering.

67
MODELS OF PROFESSIONAL ROLES
[PROFESSIONAL ROLES TO BE PLAYED BY AN ENGINEER]

• Savior: The representative engineer is a

savior who will redeem society from
poverty, inefficiency, waste and drudgery
of manual labor.

• Guardian: The representative engineer

knows the directions in which and pace at
which, technology should develop.
Accordingly they should be given
positions of high authority based on their
expertise in determining what is in the
best interest of the society.

68
 MODELS OF PROFESSIONAL ROLES[continued]
• Bureaucratic servant: The role of engineer is to
be a servant who receives and translates the
directives of the management into concrete
achievements.
• Social servant: The role of engineers’ lies in
obedient service to others but their true master
is society.
• Social enabler or catalyst: Ultimate power lies
with the management. Nevertheless, the
engineer plays a vital role beyond mere
compliance with orders.
• Game Player: Engineers are neither servants
nor masters. They play by the economic game
rules that happen to be in effect at a given
time.
69
 VIRTUES
• Virtue can be defined as moral distinction
and goodness. It refers to the moral
excellence of one’s behavior.
• In other words, virtues means our ideals of
what is right and what is wrong.
• Virtues are desirable ways of relating to
other individuals, groups and organization.

Department of Information 70
 Virtues (continued)
• Virtues very much relate to the motives,
attitudes and emotions that are responsible
for right and wrong conduct of an individual.
• Professionalism is mainly based on virtues
rather than technological development ,
knowledge, economy etc.
• The professionalism can be identified only with
the help of moral ideals to which one’s profession
is dedicated.

Department of Information 71
 PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

 is being morally responsible as a

professional.
 is an umbrella virtue that
encompasses a wide variety of
more specific virtues that
acquire importance in particular
situations

72
 Department of Information Technology

 Many of the specific virtues can be

grouped into five categories
 Self-direction virtues
 Public-spirited virtues
 Team-work virtues
 Proficiency virtues
 CARDINAL VIRTUES

73
 Department of Information Technology

 Self-direction (Self-governance) virtues are

fundamental and necessary in exercising moral
responsibility.
 On the basis of ‘understanding and cognition’,
it includes self-understanding, humility (proper
assessment of one’s character), and good
moral judgment (termed as ‘practical wisdom’
by Aristotle).
 On the basis of ‘commitment and action’, it covers
courage, self discipline, perseverance, self-respect,
and integrity.
 Honesty, a virtue common to both bases as it implies
truthfulness in thoughts and words and
trustworthiness in actions. 74
 Department of Information Technology

Public-spirited virtues focus on the good of the

clients and the public.
It includes the respect for rights (to make
decisions and face the risk), non-malfeasance (not
harming others intentionally).
 Engineering codes go a step further and
prescribe beneficence that includes preventing or
removing harm to others and also promoting the
public safety, health, and welfare, generosity
(helping the community by voluntarily giving their time,
talent, and money-voluntary service to the professional
society and community), and justice (unbiased) in all
decisions and actions. 75
 Department of Information Technology

Team-work virtues enable the

professionals to work successfully with
others.
They include collegiality,
cooperativeness, communicative ability,
and respect for legitimate authority.
Responsible exercise of authority and
the ability to motivate other to achieve
are also relevant to team-work virtues.
76
 Department of Information Technology

Proficiency virtues, which mean the mastery

of technical skills (called as Intellectual Virtue
by Aristotle).
It includes competence (having qualified,
licensed, and prepared to execute the job that
is undertaken), diligence (alert to dangers,
careful attention, and avoidance of laziness or
workaholic nature), creativity (learning to
respond to the changing technological society),
excellence (perform at the highest level), and
self-renewal through continuing education.
77
 5. CARDINAL VIRTUES
Department of Information Technology

Cardinal (chief) virtues: Wisdom (prudence), courage

(fortitude), temperance and justice. Some of these may
overlap other virtues. They are called ‘cardinal’ (Latin: cardo,
hinge) because they are hinges on which all virtues depend.
These are also called moral (Latin: mores, fixed values)
because they govern our actions, regulate our passions, and
guide our conduct according to faith and reason.
Wisdom is a perception of truth and ability to distinguish
between the right and wrong.
Courage means a firm and elevated mind.
Temperance represents order in words and actions.
Justice is preserving humanity and observing the faith of
contracts.
Although these virtues ring religious tones, they are very
much relevant to the engineering practice.
practice
78
 ACCOUNTABILITY
Department of Information Technology

Accountability
Accountability means:
1. The capacity to understand and act on moral
reasons
2. Willingness to submit one’s actions to moral
scrutiny and be responsive to the assessment of
others.
It includes being answerable for meeting specific
obligations, i.e., liable to justify (or give
reasonable excuses) the decisions, actions or
means, and outcomes (sometimes unexpected),
when required by the stakeholders or by law.
79
3. Conscientiousness: It means:
(a) Being sensitive to full range of moral
values and responsibilities and
(b) The willingness to upgrade their skills,
put efforts, and reach the best balance
possible among those considerations, and
4. Blameworthy/Praiseworthy: Own the
responsibility for the good or wrong
outcomes. Courage to accept the mistakes
will ensure success in the efforts in future.
80
 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Department of Information Technology AND
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY
The terms ‘corporate responsibility’ and
‘corporate accountability’ have different meanings.
Corporate responsibility emphasizes the
voluntary compliance of a particular organization
to particular codes of conduct. The groups of
individuals in the organization are assigned
responsibilities through policy manuals and flow
charts.
The corporate accountability means holding all
the corporate organizations accountable to the
public, employees, customers, and stock holders,
as empowered by rules and laws. 81
 OBLIGATION
Department of Information Technology

Obligation of Professional Engineer

The safety and other obligations of professional
engineers are justifiable based on the following aspects.
1. Moral obligations through laws and enforced codes of
conduct
2. Through membership of professional society
3. Contractual agreement with the employers
4. By entry into career as engineer upon graduation from
Engineering institutions and
5. By special employment agreements or agreement with
professional societies.
The paramount obligation means, giving importance
to the safety, health, and welfare of the public in
performing the professional duties. 82
 TESTING ETHICAL THEORIES
 Five widely used tests for evaluating
ethical theories:
1) The theory must be clear

2) It must be consistent

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.
situations
83
 INTERCONNECTEDNESS AMONG VIRTUES
INTEGRITY

1) is the unity of character on the basis

of moral concern, and especially on
the basis of honesty.
2) The unity is consistency among our
attitudes, emotions and conduct in
relation to justified moral values.
3) Integrity makes possible the virtues
of self-respect and pride in one’s
work.

84
 HONESTY
 Honesty has two aspects:
1. Truthfulness
Meeting responsibilities concerning truth-
telling
2. Trustworthiness
Meeting responsibilities concerning trust.
 List of specific virtues that truthfulness
and trustworthiness imply:
1) Honesty in acts

2) Honesty in speech

3) Honesty in beliefs

4) Honesty discretion
85
 INTERCONNECTEDNESS AMONG VIRTUES

SELF RESPECT
 is valuing oneself in morally
appropriate ways.
 SELF-RESPECT takes two forms:
1) Recognition self-respect
2) Appraisal self-respect
 Specific virtues for self respect
1. A sense of honor
2. Self-control
3. Courage
4. Good judgment

86
 Department of Information Technology

1. It is a virtue of maintaining
personal discipline.
2. It means a strong will and
motivation and avoidance of fear,
hatred, lack of efforts, temptation,
self-deception, and emotional
response.
3. It encompasses courage and good
judgment also.
4. Self-respect promotes self-control.

87
 INTERCONNECTEDNESS AMONG VIRTUES
Department of Infor
mation Technology

SELF-INTEREST
 Self-interest is being good and acceptable to
oneself. It is pursuing what is good for
oneself. It is very ethical to possess self-
interest.
 As per Utilitarian theory, this interest should
provide for the respect of others also.
 Duty ethics recognizes this aspect as duties
to ourselves. Then only one can help others.
 Right ethicist stresses our rights to pursue
our own good.
 Virtue ethics also accepts the importance of
self-respect as link to social practice.

88
 INTERCONNECTEDNESS AMONG VIRTUES

SELF-INTEREST (CONTINUED)
 In Ethical Egoism, the self is conceived in a
highly individualistic manner. It says that every
one of us should always and only promote
one’s own interest. The ethical egoists do not
accept the well being of the community or
caring for others.
 However this self interest should not
degenerate into egoism or selfishness, i.e.,
maximizing only own good in the pursuit of
self-interest. The ethical egoists hold that the
society benefits to maximum when
1. the individuals pursue their personal good and
2. the individual organizations pursue maximum
profit in a competitive enterprise.

89
SENSES OF RESPONSIBILITY
The virtue of Professional
Responsibility is related with some
other senses of Responsibility. They
are:
1. Characteristic quality
2. Obligations
3. General moral capacity
4. Liability and accountability
5. Praiseworthy/Blameworthy
90
 ETHICAL THEORIES [VIRTUES]
APPLIED TO MORAL PROBLEMS
Ethical theories are developed to illuminate, unify and
correct commonsense judgments about specific
situations.
1) Utilitarianism [most good for most people]
2) Duty Ethics [Duties to respect persons]
3) Rights Ethics [Human Rights]
4) Virtue Ethics [Virtues and Vices]

91
1).UTILITARIANISM JOHN STUART MILL (1806-
1873)
1) Considers a balance of good & bad
consequences for everyone
affected (society).
2) Actions are good that serve to
promote human well-being. Cost-
Benefit analysis is an application.
3) Consideration of most benefit to
the most people outweighs needs
of a few individuals.

92
 UTILITATIAN THEORY
Department of Information Technology

4. Identify the various courses of

action available to us.
5. Ask who will be affected by each
action and what benefits or harms
will be derived from each.
6. Choose the action that will produce
the greatest benefits and the least
harm. The ethical action is the one
that provides the greatest good for
the greatest number.

93
 Department of Information Technology

UTILITARIAN THEORY[2 TYPES]

1. The ACT UTILITARIAN theory proposed by J.S.
Mill (1806-73) focuses on actions, rather than
on general rules. An action is right, if it
generates the most overall good for the most
people involved.

2. The RULE UTILITARIAN theory, developed by

Richard Brandt (1910-97), stressed on the
rules, such as ‘do not steal’, ‘do no harm
others’, ‘do not bribe’, as of primary
importance. He suggested that individual
actions are right when they are required by a
set of rules which maximizes the public good.

94
 Department of Information Technology

 The act utilitarian theory permitted a few immoral

actions. Hence, there was need to develop rule
utilitarian theory to establish morality and justice,
in the transactions. For example, stealing an old
computer from the employer will benefit the
employee more than the loss to the employer. As
per Act Utilitarian this action is right.
 But rule utilitarian observes this as wrong,
because the employee should act as ‘faithful agent
or trustee of the employer’. In another example,
some undisciplined engineers are terminated with
the blame for the mistakes they have not
committed. The process is unfair although this
results in promotion of overall good.

95
 2). DUTY ETHICS IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)
 There are duties that should be performed
(e.g.. Duty to treat others fairly or not to
injure others) regardless of whether these
acts do the most good or not.
 Duty Ethics

A. The duty ethics theory, proposed by Immanuel

Kant (1724-1804) states, that actions are
consequences of performance of one’s duties
such as, ‘being honest’, ‘not cause suffering of
others’, ‘being fair to others including the
meek and weak’, ‘being grateful’, ‘keeping
promises’ etc. The stress is on the universal
principle of respect for autonomy i.e., respect and
rationality of persons.

96
 DUTY ETHICS (JOHN RAWL)
Department of Information Technology

 On the other hand, the DUTY ethics theory, as

enunciated by John Rawl, gave importance to the
actions that would be voluntarily agreed upon by all
persons concerned, assuming impartiality. His view
emphasized the autonomy each person exercises in
forming agreements with other rational people.
 Rawl proposed two basic moral principles;
 (1) each person is entitled to the most extensive
amount of liberty compatible with an equal amount
for others, and
 (2) differences in social power and economic
benefits are justified only when they are likely to
benefit every one, including members of the most
disadvantaged groups. The first principle is of prime
importance and should be satisfied first.

97
 3). RIGHTS ETHICS JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

 People have
fundamental rights (like
life, liberty, & property)
that others have a duty
to respect.

98
 RIGHT ETHICS THEORY
Department of Information Technology

This theory is criticized on the fact,

that the intuitions do not provide
sufficient guideline for moral duty.
He has listed various aspects of Duty
Ethics that reflect our moral
convictions, namely:
1. Fidelity : duty to keep promises.
2. Reparation : duty to compensate
others when we harm them. 99
 Department of Information Technology

3. Gratitude : duty to thank those who

help us.
4. Justice : duty to recognize merit.
5. Beneficence : duty to recognize
inequality and improve the condition of
others.
6. Self-improvement : duty to improve
virtue and intelligence.
7. Non-malfeasance : duty not to injure 100
 RIGHTS THEORY
Department of Information Technology

Human rights: Human rights are

explained in two forms, namely
liberty rights and welfare rights
LIBERTY RIGHTS
1. Rights are natural in so far as they
are not invented or created by
government.
2. They are universal, as they do not
change from country to country. 101
3. They are equal since the rights are the
same for all people, irrespective of caste,
race, creed or sex.
4. They are inalienable i.e., one cannot hand
over his rights to another person such as
selling oneself to slavery.
WELFARE RIGHTS
The Welfare Rights are the rights to
benefit the needy for a decent human life,
when one can not earn those benefits and
when those benefits are available in the society. 102
 4). VIRTUE ETHICS

“Golden mean” ethics (Aristotle, 384 – 322 B.C.).

The best solution is achieved through reason and
logic and is a compromise or “golden mean”
between extremes of excess and deficiency.
For example, in the case of the environment, the
golden mean between the extremes of neglect and
exploitation might be protection.

Problem: Variability from one person to another in

their powers of reasoning and the difficulty in
applying the theory to ethical problems.
103
 VIRTUE ETHICS [TWO THEORIES]
ARISTOTLE AND MACINTYRE

 Actions are considered right

if they support good
character traits (virtues) and
wrong if they support bad
character traits (vices)
 Closely tied to personal
honor
104
 THEORIES ABOUT VIRTUES
 Aristotle: Virtue and the Golden Mean
 Aristotle, the most influential of all virtue ethicist,
defined the virtues as acquired habits that enable
us to engage effectively in rational activities.
 Moral virtues are tendencies, acquired thro’ habit
formation, to reach a proper balance between
extremes in conduct, emotion, desire and attitude.
 Virtues are tendencies to find “The Golden Mean”
between the extremes of too much and too little.
 E.g. Truthfulness is the mean between revealing
all information in violation of tact and
confidentiality and being secretive.

105
 THEORIES ABOUT VIRTUES
 Macintyre: Virtues and Practices
 Macintyre is a contemporary ethicist who has
stimulated a renewed interest in virtue ethics
and applied it to thinking about professional
ethics.
 Macintyre begins with the idea of social
practices.
 Cooperative activities aimed toward achieving
public goods that could not otherwise be
achieved, at least not to the same degree.
 These goods are internal to the practices in
that they define what the practices are all
about.
 They differ from external goods.
 E.g. The primary internal good of medicine is the
promotion of health. 106
 Department of Information Technology

THE VIRTUE THEORY

This emphasizes on the character rather
than the rights or duties. The character is
the pattern of virtues (morally-desirable
features).
The theory advocated by Aristotle, stressed
on the tendency to act at proper balance
between extremes of conduct, emotion,
desire, attitudes to find the golden mean
between the extremes of ‘excess’ or
‘deficiency’.
107
Department of Information Technology

108
Department of Information Technology

109
 Department of Information Technology

Corporate organizations have social responsibility to all

of their ‘stakeholders’. This includes the wellbeing of the
employees and their unions, socially responsible
investors, customers, dealers, suppliers, local
communities, governments, non-governmental
organizations, and the business owners and managers.
Besides showing concern with employee relations and
other internal organizational matters, the organization is
concerned with
(a) how the product/project is marketed, used or
misused, how it fails, and how it is disposed or discarded.
The ways in which the used battery cells and computers
are discarded have been debated in the engineers’
forums.
110
(b) protecting the work environment during
manufacture as well as the external environment
during transport or use
(c) training the disadvantaged or physically-
challenged workers
(d) subcontracting and hiring practices, and
(e) contribution to local communities to enrich their
cultural, social, and civic life. It may be even
compensatory against the harm to environment
(e.g., planting trees).
Various types of responsibilities such as causal, moral, and
legal are distinguished through appropriate examples.
 SELF-INTEREST , CUSTOMS AND
ETHICAL EGOISM
1. Self-interest is being good and
acceptable to oneself.
2. It is pursuing what is good for oneself.
3. It is very ethical to possess self-interest.
4. A view that tries to reduce morality to the
pursuit of self-interest is called ethical
egoism.
5. “Ethical “ because it is a theory about
morality and “egoism” because it says
that the sole duty of each of us is to
maximize his or her own good.

112
 Department of Information Technology

Each of the ethical theories recognizes the

importance of self-respect.
Utilitarian considers one’s own good as well as
the good of others.
Duty ethicists stress duties to ourselves and
for well-being.
Rights Ethicists emphasize our rights to pursue
our own good.
Virtue ethicists accent the importance of self –
respect.
Each of these theories insists that the pursuit
of self – interest must be balanced and kept
under control by moral responsibilities to other
people. 113
 CUSTOMS AND ETHICAL RELATIVISM
 Various culture in our pluralistic
society lead to tolerance for
various customs, beliefs and
outlooks.
 Ethical pluralism is the view that
there may be alternative
perspectives that are reasonable,
but none of which must be
accepted completely by all
rational and morally concerned
persons.
114
 Department of Information Technology

 Ethical relativism says that actions are

morally right when they are approved
by law or custom; they are wrong when
they violate laws or customs.
 Moral rationalism is the view that moral
judgments should be made in relation to
factors that may vary from case to case.
 “Ethical Egoism” challenges all the
ethical theories and it tries to reduce
morality to the pursuit of self-interest.

115
 SELF-RESPECT
SELF-RESPECT
It is defined as valuing oneself in morally
suitable ways. Self-respect includes
(a) recognition, which means respect to
others, their ideas, decisions, ability, and
rights and
(b) appraisal, which means properly
valuing ourselves as to how well we face
moral standards and our personal
commitments (aims).
 Department of Information Technology

An intensive but balanced feeling of self-

respect is sense of honor. This includes
intense agony and guilt for wrong doings.
Self-control is a virtue of maintaining
personal discipline (self-regulation).
Courage is a bye-product of self-respect,
which makes a person face the hardship in
rational way.
Self-respect is different from self-esteem in
the following manner:
117
Department of Information Technology

118
 RELIGION
 Religions have played major roles in shaping
moral views and moral values.
 Each religion lays stress on certain high
moral standards.
 Hinduism holds polytheistic view and virtues of
devotion and surrender to high order.
 Christianity believes in one deity and emphasizes
on virtues of love, faith and hope.
 Islam on one deity and adherence to ishan and
prayer.
 But many religious sects have adopted poor
moral standards.
 People are killed in the name of religion.

119
 RELIGION (CONTINUED)
Christianity has influenced the
Western countries, Islam in the
Middle-East countries, Buddhism
and Hinduism in Asia, and
Confucianism in China.
Further, there is a strong
psychological link between the
moral and religious beliefs of
people following various religions
and faiths.
Religions support moral
responsibility. They have set high
moral standards. 120
 Department of Information Technology

RELIGION (CONTINUED)
Faith in the religions provides trust
and this trust inspires people to be
moral.
The religions insist on tolerance and
moral concern for others.
Many professionals who possess
religious beliefs are motivated to be
morally responsible.
121
DIVINE COMMAND ETHICS
 As per this principle, the right
action is defined by the
commands by God.
 It implies that to be moral, a
person should believe in God
and an action is right only if
it is commanded by God.

122
There are some difficulties in this approach,
namely,
(a)whether God exists or not is not clear.
(b)How to know what are the God’s commands?
and
(c) How to verify the genuineness of the
commands?
Further, religions such as Hinduism, Islam, and
Christianity accept the existence of God. But
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism adopt only faith
in a right path and do not believe in God. 123
 DIVINE COMMAND ETHICS (CONTINUED)
1. Socrates was said to have argued that God, an
entity which is responsible, morally good, and
beyond fear or favor, would not command
murder, rape, torture, immoral activities, and
even mass suicide.
2. Many such crimes were committed in the
name of God then, and, continue even now in
different parts of the world. Some Western
leaders had claimed that God had commanded
them to invade against the Middle-East
countries.
3. If anyone claims to have obtained commands from God to kill
people mercilessly, then we have to conclude that the person 124
is
 (USES OF ETHICAL Department
THEORIES )
of Information Technology

 Uses and Criteria: The ethical theories

are useful in many respects.
 1. In understanding moral dilemma.
They provide clarity, consistency,
systematic and comprehensive
understanding. [Jumbo Jet DC-10
crash]
 2. It provides helpful practical guidance
in moral issues towards the solution.
 3. Justifying professional obligations
and decisions, and

125
 Department of Information Technology
USES OF ETHICAL THEORIES (CONTINUED)
 4. It helps in relating ordinary and
professional morality.
 5. It provides guidance compatible with
our moral convictions (judgments) about
concrete situations.
 For example, if an ethical theory
says that it is all right for engineers
to make explosive devices without
the informed consent of the public,
we can conclude that the theory is
inadequate.

126
 Department of Information Technology

1 RESOLVING MORAL DILEMMAS

 Ethical theories are very much

helpful in understanding the moral
dilemmas to some extent. But
ethical theories can not give good
moral judgment in solving complex
moral dilemmas. Ex. The DC – 10
1974 Paris (346 people) Plane
Crash

127
 Department of Information Technology

 It was known in advance that such an

accident was bound to occur because
of the defective design of the jet.
 Subcontractor – President and Vice
president –Cargo door opens-
depressurization of cargo space –
collapse the floor of the passenger-
Control lines run along the floor lines
and this would result in a loss of full
control over the plane.

128
 Department of Information Technology

 Advised to redesign the door by

the subcontractor- But the top
management of contractor
disputed the technical facts cited
by the management engineer and
his predictions.
 [Page 1.47 Book by Govindarajan
and Senthil Kumar]

129
 Department of Information Technology

CASE STUDY: CHOICE OF THE THEORY

The choice of the ethical theory to study
a problem is illustrated herein with an
example.
In tackling ethical problems, we can
apply all the theories and analyze the
actions and results from different angles
and see what result each theory gives
rise to.
This enables us to examine the problem
in different perspectives. Many a time,
the result will be the same though we
have applied various theories. 130
CASE STUDY Department of Information Technology

Case: A chemical plant near a small town is

discharging hazardous wastes into the fields
nearby.
The ground water gets contaminated and
significant health problems surface in the
community.
Since harm is caused to the residents, the
action is unethical as per rights ethics.
The agriculturists who have the agrarian right
of water supply have been over looked. The
pollutants may endanger their profession and
welfare.
Hence, rights ethics also concludes that the
action is unethical.
131
 Department of Information Technology

CASE STUDY
The effects of polluted water and the cost to
purify the water by the municipality may out
weigh the economic benefits of the plant. Hence,
the utilitarian analysis leads to the same
conclusion.
The groundwater harms the people and caused
health problems. Hence, discharging the
pollutants is unethical as per duty ethics.
Generally, because the rights of the individuals
should weigh strongly than the needs of the
society as a whole, rights and duty ethics take
precedence over utilitarian considerations. 132
 Department of Information Technology

Caution is necessary in applying theory of virtue

ethics. When we use the word ‘honor’, we mean
it to be a measure of dignity and integrity. It is a
positive virtue. When it points to ‘pride’ it is not
a virtue and has a negative connotation.
History abounds with examples of war, which
have been fought and atrocities were committed
on innocent people in order to preserve the
honor (pride) of an individual or a nation.
In using virtue ethics, we have to ensure that the
traits of virtue are actually virtuous and will not
lead to negative consequences.
133
 Text Book
 Mike Martin and Roland Schinzinger,
Ethics in Engineering, Mcgraw Hill, New
York, 1996.
 Reference Books
 M.Govindarajan, S.Natarajan, V.S.SenthilKumar,
Engineering Ethics, PHI, 2004.
 Charles D.Fleddermann, Engineering Ethics,
Prentice Hall, New Mexico, 1999.
 R.S.Naagarazan, Professional Ethics and
Human Values, New Age International
Publishers, 2006.

134
 REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is engineering ethics?
2. What are the situations when moral
dilemmas arise?
3. What are the steps needed to confront moral
dilemmas?
4. What are the types of inquiry?
5. What are the two aspects of honesty?
6. List the criteria to achieve professionalism.
7. List the models of professional roles.
8. What are the virtues fulfilled under
professional responsibility?

135