The document discusses engineering ethics and moral dilemmas. It provides an introduction to ethics and explains why engineering ethics is important to study. It discusses Kohlberg's stages of moral development and uses examples like the Heinz dilemma to illustrate the stages. The document also outlines procedures for facing moral dilemmas, such as assessing situations, discussing with others, and determining the best course of action. Overall, the document aims to introduce key concepts around engineering ethics and provide guidance for addressing moral dilemmas.

1. MORAL DILEMMAS

2. WHY STUDY
ENGINEERING ETHICS?

3. INTRODUCTION
• What is Ethics?
– Ethics is the study of the characteristics of morals.
– Ethics also deals with the moral choices that are made
by each person in his or her relationship with other
persons.
• Engineering ethics is the rules and standards
governing the conduct of engineers in their role as
professionals.
• It encompasses the more general definition of ethics,
but applies it more specifically to situations involving
engineers in their professional lives.

4. ETHICS
• Study of human morality
• Determining values in human conduct
• Deciding the “right thing to do” - based upon a
set of norms
• In Engineering:
– dealing with colleagues
– dealing with clients
– dealing with employees
– dealing with “users’
– dealing with public

5. WHY FOCUS ON ETHICS?
 Make decisions – make the right choice
 Take action – do the right thing
 Personal integrity and self-respect
 Element of professional reputation
 HIGH ETHICS -> HIGH PROFITS

6. ENGINEERING ETHICS
• Engineering ethics is the study of moral values, issues
and decisions involved in engineering practice.
• The moral values take many forms, including
responsibilities
ideal character traits
social policies
relationships desirable for individuals
corporation engaged in technological development.

7. ENGINEERING ETHICS
• Teaching engineering ethics can achieve at least four
desirable outcomes:
 increased ethical sensitivity
 increased knowledge of relevant standards of conduct
 improved ethical judgment
 improved ethical will-power (i.e., a greater ability to act
ethically when one wants to).

8. SCOPE OF ENGINEERING ETHICS

9. ENGINEERING AS AN ETHICAL
PROFESSION
• What is a Profession?
– special expertise
– shared moral values
– dependent public
– self-regulation
– promote and protect right actions
• The responsibility to be ethical
• The right to be ethical
• Values embedded in technology

10. Why Ethics?
• Integral part of the success of your career
• Integrity can be our most valuable asset,
– Leads to trust in work relationships
– Frees them from controls necessary
when trust doesn’t exist

11. SO WHY BOTHER WITH ETHICS??
• Special knowledge
• Involved in decision-making
“Practicing engineers are more apt to get into trouble as
a result of a failure to properly anticipate and handle
ethical problems rather than as a result of a traditional
engineering problems!”

12. RESULT OF ETHICAL EQUATIONS
ETHICAL BEHAVIORETHICAL BEHAVIOR UNETHICAL BEHAVIORUNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
Quality products
Conservation of resources
Pride in work
Public safety
Timeliness
GOOD BUSINESS
Shoddy products
Waste, fraud, greed
Abuse of expertise
Guilt, fear
Lack of safety
Cutting corners
-poor design
-rushed testing
DISASTERS!

14. ETHICAL ISSUED FACED BY ENGINEERS
 Public Safety
 Bribery and Fraud
 Environmental Protection
 Fairness
 Honesty in Research and Testing
 Conflicts of Interest

15. WHY STUDY ENGINEERING ETHICS?
Engineering ethics should be studied because it
is important , both in preventing grave
consequences of faulty ethical reasoning and in
giving meaning to engineers’ endeavors, but it is
complex. It cannot be understood through
casual observation.

16. WHY STUDY ENGINEERING ETHICS?
• Increased awareness of importance due to publicity
surrounding high profile engineering failures.
• Engineering decisions can impact public health, safety,
business practices and politics.
• Engineers should be aware of moral implications as they
make decisions in the workplace.

17. WHY STUDY ENGINEERING ETHICS?
• Study of ethics helps engineers develop a moral
autonomy.
• Ability to think critically and independently about moral
issues.
• Ability to apply this moral thinking to situations that arise in
the course of professional engineering practice.

18. MORAL DILEMMAS

19. Moral dilemmas
• A situation in which, whatever choice is
made, the agent commits a moral wrong.
1. Something morally
right
2. Something morally
wrong
Bad outcome
Good or better
outcome

20. Moral Dilemma
A woman was near death from a unique kind of
cancer. There is a drug that might save her. The drug
costs $4,000 per dosage. The sick woman's husband,
Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money
and tried every legal means, but he could only get
together about $2,000. He asked the doctor scientist
who discovered the drug for a discount or that he let
him pay later. But the doctor scientist refused.

21. Moral Dilemma
Should Heinz break into the laboratory to
steal the drug for his wife?
(Why or why not?)

22. Moral Stages
• Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-87)

23. Kohlberg
Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning,
which he thought to be the basis for ethical
behavior, develops through stages.

24. Moral Stages
Level 1: PRE-CONVENTIONAL
Level 2: CONVENTIONAL
Level 3: POST-CONVENTIONAL

25. Kohlberg’s Stages
Level 1 (Pre-conventional)
Reasoners judge the morality of an action by its direct
consequences
Stage One: Obedience and Punishment
Stage Two: Individualism, Instrumentalism, and
Exchange

26. Heinz Dilemma
Stage One (obedience): Heinz should not
steal the medicine, because otherwise he will
be put in prison.

27. Pre-conventional level
Stage One (obedience orientation)
Individuals focus on the direct consequences
that their actions will have for themselves.

28. Heinz Moral Dilemma
• Pre-conventional Level
Stage Two (self-interest): Heinz should steal
the medicine, because he will be much
happier if he saves his wife, even if he will
have to serve a prison sentence.

29. Kohlberg’s Stages
Stage Two (self-interest orientation):
what's in it for me position. Right behavior is
defined by what is in one's own best interest.

30. Socrates’ Dilemma
From a level two perspective, Socrates
should not die because…

31. Kohlberg’s Stages
Level 2 (Conventional)
People who reason in a conventional way judge the morality
of actions by comparing these actions to social rules and
expectations.
Stage Three: Interpersonal Concordance ("Good boy/girl")
Stage Four: Law and Order

32. Heinz Moral Dilemma
CONVENTIONAL LEVEL
• Stage Three (conformity): Heinz should steal the medicine,
because his wife expects it.

33. Conventional level
Stage Three (conformity orientation)
Individuals seek approval from other people. They judge the
morality of actions by evaluating the consequences of these
actions for a person's relationships.

34. Socrates Dilemma
• Socrates should die because…

35. Conventional level
Stage Four (law-and-order mentality).
In stage four, individuals think it is important to obey the law
and conventions of society.

36. Kohlberg’s Stages
Level 3 (Post-conventional)
(Most people do not reach this level of moral reasoning)
• Stage Five: Human Rights
• Stage Six: Universal Ethical Principles (Principled
Conscience)

37. PROCEDURES FOR FACING
MORAL DILEMMA

38. MORAL DILEMMA
• Moral dilemmas often test our character and our
commitment to the greatest good for the greatest number of
people.
• Some moral dilemmas are simply complicated decisions
which must be thoroughly evaluated before choosing a
course of action.
• Other choices are genuine moral dilemmas which challenge
our ability to makes fair and just choices.

39. MORAL DILEMMA
• Some people have hypothetical minds that like to debate
what is right and wrong.
• Sometimes, however, what is right and wrong is not so clear,
as is the case in a moral dilemma.

40. LONG,SHORT TERM
CONSEQUENCES
• Moral dilemmas can also be evaluated on the
basis of their short-term and long-term
consequences.
• If short-term consequences are
overshadowed by long-term benefits, then
moral dilemma can find its ethical solution by
pursuing an outcome which obtains the
greatest long-term benefit for the greatest
number of people.

41. Should you always
tell the truth?
• A murderer at the door is looking for your
friend who is hiding in your house.
• Your co-worker is cheating on her time-sheet.
• You witness a parking-lot accident.

42. Should you take this
job?
• You are offered a job that will require you to
do things that you find morally questionable.
– If you don’t take it, someone else will.
– Maybe you can work for good from the inside.
– With the money you can take care of your family
and even give back to charities

43. MORAL DILEMMA
SCENARIOS
Debt to your Friend
• What would you do?
• There is a train that, is about to run over your own son, who
has been tied to its track.
• It just so happens that you have only enough time to pull a
lever which will send the train down an alternate track saving
your son.
• However, you see that, tied to the other track, is your best
friend, who recently saved your life and you have yet to
repay him for doing so.

44. SCENARIOS
• Friendship
• Right or wrong?
• You have the responsibility of filling a position in his firm.
Your friend Paul has applied and is qualified, but someone
else seems even more qualified. You wants to give the job to
Paul, but you feels guilty, believing that you ought to be
impartial.
• You gives the job to Paul. Was he right?

45. How to Respond to
an Ethical Dilemma
• Assess the situation.
– Responding to an ethical dilemma requires that you are
able to, in a sense, step back from the situation and
properly look at the situation as a whole.
– You need to understand who is affected by the dilemma
aside from yourself, what potential decisions could be
made and what the outcomes of those decisions might be
for all those involved.
– By gaining a wider perspective of the problem as a whole,
you will be more informed and able to make a decision
that is perhaps justifiable based on your assessment of
the circumstances.

46. How to Handle
MORAL Dilemmas
• Discuss the issues with a trusted friend or colleague.
Understand that listening to an additional opinion can
provide more insight. It can also help you focus on issues
that you may have overlooked.
• Spend time thinking about the appropriate decision to make.
Avoid thinking about your decision in terms of “right” or
“wrong,” as this can make it easier to be trapped in your own
thoughts.

47. RESOLVING AN
MORAL DILEMMA
• Step 1: Identify the Problem
• Step 2: Identify the Potential Issues Involved
• Step 3: Evaluate Potential Courses of Action
• Step 4: Obtain Consultation
• Step 5:Determine the Best Course of Action

48. Step 1: Identify the
Problem
• Gather as much relevant information as
possible.
• Talk to the parties involved.
• Clarify if the problem is legal, moral, ethical or
a combination.

49. Step 2: Identify the Potential
Issues Involved
• List and describe the critical issues.
• Evaluate the rights, responsibilities and welfare of those
affected by the decision.
• Consider basic moral principles of autonomy, beneficence,
non-maleficence and justice.
• Identify any competing principles.
• Ascertain the potential dangers to the individuals,
department or college.

50. Step 3: Evaluate Potential
Courses of Action
• Brainstorm ideas.
• Enumerate the outcomes of various decisions.
• Consider the consequences of inaction.

51. Step 4: Obtain Consultation
• Colleagues or a supervisor can add an outside perspective.
• It’s a serious warning sign if you don’t want to talk to another
person about actions you are contemplating.
• You must be able to justify a course of action based on
sound reasoning which you can test out in the consultation.

52. Step 5:Determine the Best
Course of Action
• Map out the best way to resolve the problem (e.g., who
should be contacted first if multiple parties are involved? Do
you need outside support? Do you need to talk to a
supervisor?).
• Then consider who, if anyone, should know about the
problem (such as a work supervisor, friend, administrator or
colleague).

53. SOLVING THE DILEMMAS IN STUDENTS LIFE
• There is only one way to solve the moral dilemma and that is
opting for one of the situations.
• Parents and teachers play a major role in this task of solving
dilemmas for students.
• Though they cannot be there with children everywhere, they
must mentally prepare their children to face such situations.
• It is important to note that younger children base their moral
judgments on consequences and not on the motive behind
the act.

54. SOLVING THE DILEMMAS IN STUDENTS LIFE
• This happens because many of the parents just
explain what is wrong but not why a certain thing is
wrong.
• Explaining this helps children analyze the situation
better and solve the moral dilemma effectively.
Always appreciate the positive behavior of your
children without any conditions.

55. SOLVING THE DILEMMAS IN STUDENTS LIFE
• For example, If your child is studying hard,
appreciate it but do not say that you will reward his
hard work only if he gets good marks. An overall
good child development process prepares students
to face various moral dilemmas in their school life.
• It helps them cope with stressful events with ease
and stay content without losing mental peace.