Chapter 2 Review - Rules of Skill: Ethics in Engineering
This chapter makes an attempt to establish that Ethics is an integral part of Engineering. Rules of skills tell us how to achieve a particular end, ie how to bake a cake, how to assemble a bed frame, etc. They exist for every profession. When failing to follow the right rules of the skill leads to significant harm, they carry ethical weight. Even the solutions designed through following the rules of skill, at minimum are required to not cause unnecessary harm. This is a moral command and this is where ethics enter into the core of engineering - ie through its standing rules and tools utilized as well as through its design solutions. Engineers are ethically obligated to use the right tools, and right rules of skills and provide design solutions that at minimum cause no unnecessary harm. Of course, it be great if we achieve more benefits than harm in any of these cases but the minimum condition still remains - no unnecessary harm. Some examples of failing to follow...