In this blog post, we will look at why engineering ethics education is necessary in universities for engineers to fulfill their social responsibilities.
Today is the age of science and technology. Science and technology are closely related to our lives and help us maintain a prosperous life. However, on the other hand, they also threaten humanity by causing military weapons, environmental destruction, and safety accidents. In this double-edged sword of a science and technology society, engineers who develop technology need something more than just technology. That is engineering ethics, and universities should strengthen education on engineering ethics. The reasons are as follows.
First, engineering ethics education contributes to the public discussion of organizational problems. This can reduce technological disasters. As more engineers become independent rather than mere technicians, they will consider the social impact and ripple effect of their work, and a culture will be formed in which they freely express their opinions and discuss negative prospects. The importance of this culture can be seen in the Challenger disaster. In 1986, the Challenger, a manned spacecraft carrying seven people, exploded in midair 73 seconds after launch. The explosion was caused by a rubber part called an O-ring losing its elasticity at low temperatures and failing to perform its intended function. This single technical flaw dashed humanity’s dreams of entering space, which had cost a huge amount of money. But the reason why this disaster is still remembered by many people to this day is not simply because the manned spacecraft exploded or because humanity’s dreams were dashed. This technological disaster was already predicted by some engineers. At the time, Taiocoil engineer Roger Boisjoly discovered a technical flaw in the O-ring and raised the issue, but he was ignored by management and fellow engineers. In particular, fellow engineers agreed with Roger Boisjoly’s technical concerns about the O-ring, but they did not agree with his request to delay the launch. This was because there was an implicit culture that one should not act in a way that would disappoint the then president and damage the company’s image. If fellow engineers had actively agreed with Roger Boisjoly’s opinion and requested a launch delay together, the outcome would have been different. From the management’s perspective, a single engineer’s request for a launch delay could be ignored, but a request from multiple engineers would have been difficult to ignore. In this way, a culture in which not only the things that are easy to hear within an organization, but also the things that are difficult to hear, are objectively discussed and publicized can prevent technological disasters. To create such a culture, each engineer must be able to predict the potential impact of what they do and be familiar with concepts that enable them to resist when that impact is socially negative. This is the core of engineering ethics, and therefore, ethical education for engineers can create the right culture to prevent technological disasters.
Second, engineering ethics education can solve the problem of loyalty and group responsibility. The problem of loyalty refers to the contradiction between the interests of the company and the interests of society. Generally, when one becomes a member of an organization, one becomes aware of the need to be loyal to that organization. Even if the safety of the company’s products is flawed, it is considered a violation of loyalty to disclose this to the outside world. The aforementioned Challenger disaster is the same. The reason why fellow engineers did not insist on postponing the launch with Roger Boisjoly was that they thought it was their duty to the company to not damage the company’s image by condoning the defect of the O-ring. As such, loyalty means that engineers blindly serve the organization to which they belong. Engineers often have to do things that others tell them to do, and the impact of technological development is unpredictable, so this issue of loyalty is an important issue in engineering ethics. However, loyalty is not only to the company. There is also loyalty to society and the country. However, most people prioritize loyalty to their company. This is because a company is a close organization that can be felt with the body, compared to an abstract society or country. When there is no engineering ethics, loyalty to society weakens, but when ethics education strengthens ethics, engineers’ loyalty to society increases, and they do not blindly follow the company. If we stop blindly following companies that are only interested in making a profit, we will be able to oppose the development of catastrophic technologies that pose a threat to humanity, such as chemical and nuclear weapons. We can also solve the problem of collective responsibility, which sometimes appears to be preserved in total, like the law of conservation of energy. The more people involved, the less responsibility each person feels. The problem of collective responsibility is a situation where the responsibility is spread out among many people, and no one wants to take responsibility for the incident. When an engineering problem occurs in a large organization, the engineers in that organization mostly blame others and do not think they are at fault. This situation makes it unclear who is responsible and takes a long time to solve the problem at its root. However, if a sense of ethics is established, people’s sense of responsibility will increase, preventing the phenomenon of people trying to avoid responsibility. Then, in a culture where people acknowledge their problems, active information exchange will take place, and a clear sense of responsibility will be established, allowing the root cause of the problem to be found more quickly and an efficient feedback system to be established.
Third, engineering ethics education instills a sense of responsibility in engineers. The problems that engineers face are very diverse, and the methods of solving them involve specialized skills and knowledge. In some cases, the technical expertise involved is so high that it is difficult for even other engineers, let alone the general public, to understand the problem. In addition, today’s science and technology have reached the point where they threaten the survival of humanity. For example, there are various technologies that have potential threats, such as nuclear power plants and electromagnetic waves from electronic devices. If engineers continue to develop technology indiscriminately in this advanced science and technology society, the future of humanity could be seriously threatened. The technologies that engineers work with can have a huge impact on humanity, and the development of science and technology must be carefully guided to create a just society. To this end, engineers need to have a sense of responsibility for what they do, and engineering ethics education helps them develop this sense of responsibility. Engineers’ sense of responsibility and a sound sense of ethics are required in a variety of situations, not just in cases of extreme damage, such as the Challenger accident and ozone layer depletion. For example, if a civil servant, Mr. K, who is an engineer, is in a situation where he has to choose between products from Company A and Company B, and he receives a bribe from Company A, or if he receives investment funds to build a time machine but knows that the time machine is impossible, should he continue to receive the investment funds? These are also issues related to engineering ethics.
In this way, when engineers receive ethics education, they can contribute to a corporate culture that openly discusses organizational issues and resolve issues of loyalty and group responsibility. It also helps them make responsible and correct decisions in the many small and large problems they often face. Therefore, universities need to strengthen engineering ethics education for students in engineering colleges.
