by Sergio Kapusta
Professor in the Practice
“Killing is wrong!” “You ought not lie.” “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you”. These are examples of moral statements: they are definite “right or wrong” statements. Engineers are often confronted with ethical dilemmas. They will have concerns about the safety of the cars, sustainability of energy, conflicts of interest, access to information, or justice. These dilemmas don’t typically have simple yes or no answers. In most cases, the best answer is “it depends”.
Ethics for Engineers
The main purpose of teaching ethics is to prepare students to see these ethical issues and address them in an ethical manner. Ethics for engineers is not about theory and philosophy: it is about the application of moral and ethical principles to solve practical engineering issues.
Ethical problems are somewhat analogous to engineering design problems: both involve significant complexities, high degrees of uncertainty, a number of boundary conditions and constraints, conformance with criteria, identification and evaluation of alternatives responses, and deciding on the best solution or action. The skills and competences gained in an ethics course are most important to exercise leadership in both business and engineering.
Skills for Ethical Decision-Making
What skills can students gained in a course of ethics? The first skill is sensitivity to see an ethical issue, the second is to identify and analyze the various values and stakeholders in every issue. Finally, the skill to make solid judgements, identify the best actions to take and the resolve to take those actions. There are other skills such as the ability to form your own opinions, to listen to arguments, and to communicate your reasons and decisions. These skills are at the basis of leadership: an ethical leader is a better leader.
Approach to Ethics Education
Some students come to ethics courses with a skeptical attitude. They might think that there are no ethical issues, or that they will always know how to behave in an ethical manner or that ethics is not related to engineering. Engineering students are used to problems that have a clear solution. In engineering ethics there are seldom good or bad answers, and we need to learn to handle this ambiguity.
At RCEL our approach to teaching is to use current case studies that are relevant to our students, such as bioethics, ethics in cyber space, ethics in the classroom, safety, social responsibility, and environmental justice. We strive to connect the learning experience with practical and immediate applications. Ethics is not theory; it is foremost about application to your academic and professional life.
If you are intrigued by this unique opportunity to learn a side of engineering that you might not have considered before and which will help you become a better leader, Sergio Kapusta can be reached at kapusta@rice.edu.
Presented by RCEL faculty, the RCEL Tip Tuesday Series addresses a variety of topics applicable to young engineering leaders, and encourages them to learn more and improve.