1-Give Four Reasons Forstudying Ethics of Engineering

1-Give four reasons forstudying ethics of engineering.

1. Engineering ethics is not about preaching virtue rather, its objective is to increase your ability as engineers to responsibly confront moral issues raised by technological activity

1. The study of engineering ethics helps students prepare for their professional lives;
2. Engineers are often placed into conflict situations – they need to be able to resolve conflicts in ethical manner
3. The study of engineering ethics helps them to develop widely applicable skills in communication, reasoning and reflection

2-What is meant by Ethics?

1. Principles of right and wrong
2. Deciding the “right thing to do” – based upon a set of norms
3. Determining values in human conduct

3-A person’s behavior is always ethical when one:

1. Does what is best for oneself
2. Does what is best for everyone
3. Has good intentions, no matter how things turn out
4. Does what is legal

4-Give examples of every day unethical personal ethics:

1. Software piracy
2. Expense account padding
3. Copying of homework or tests
4. Faking in Income taxes
5. “Borrowing” nuts and bolts, office supplies from employer
6. Copying of Videos or CD’s
7. Plagiarism
8. Using the copy machine at work

5-Give examples of Unethical Business ethics:

1. Use of military force on native peoples
2. Reckless chemical usage
3. Sex trafficking
4. Dumping Toxic waste in the nature and gagging the media
5. Rejecting responsibility of industrial disasters
6. Genocides

6-What is the Engineers role in the society?

1. Build products such as cell phones, home appliances, heart valves, bridges, & cars. In general they advance society by building new technology.
2. Develop processes, such as the process to convert salt water into fresh water or the process to recycle bottles. These processes change how we live and what we can accomplish.

7-Give examples of Products and processes consequences for society:

1. If the bridge has an inadequate support, it will fail.
2. If the gas tank is positioned too close to the bumper, it might explode from a small accident.
3. If the process for recycling bottles produces too much pollution, then it is counterproductive.
4. If the process for refining gas produces too much toxins, it harms the local community.

8-Give examples of professions:

Physician, lawyer, engineer

9-Give examples of non-professions:

Plumber, fashion model, sales clerk, fruit vendors, newspaper distributors

10-What is a profession?

“A profession is a number of individuals in the same occupation voluntarily organized to earn a living by openly serving a moral ideal in a morally permissible way beyond what law, market, morality, and public opinion would otherwise require”

11-What are characteristics of professions?

1. Special knowledge and intellectual skills
2. Formal education, often graduate degree
3. A profession cannot be composed of only one person. It is always composed of a number of individuals.
4. A profession involves a public element. One must openly ‘‘profess’’ to be a physician or attorney, …
5. A profession is a way people earn a living and is usually something that occupies them during their working hours.
6. A profession must serve some morally praiseworthy goal, although this goal may not be unique to a given profession.
7. Professionals must pursue a morally praiseworthy goal by morally permissible means. (i.e.: medicine cannot pursue the goal of health by cruel experimentation or by deception or coercion).
8. Ethical standards in a profession should obligate professionals to act in some way that goes beyond what law, market, morality, and public opinion would otherwise require. (Physicians have an obligation to help people (their patients) be healthy in a way that non-physicians do not, and attorneys have an obligation to help people (their clients) achieve justice that the rest of us do not).
9. A profession is something that people enter into voluntarily and that they can leave voluntarily.

12-What is engineering?

“Engineering is the profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences, gained by study, experience, and practice, is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of humankind”.

13-The third canon of the code of ethics of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)encourages all members ‘‘to:

‘‘to be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data.’’

14-What are the forms of dishonesty?

Lying, Deliberate Deception, Withholding Information and Failure to Seek Out the Truth

15-What do we mean by confidentiality?

Engineers shall not reveal facts, data, or information obtained in a professional capacity without the prior consent of the client or employer.

16-What is the intellectual property?

Intellectual property is property that results from mental labor.

17-What are the types of intellectual property?

Trade secrets, Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights.

18-What are the Trade secrets?

Are formulas, patterns, devices, or compilations of information that are used in business to gain an advantage over competitors who do not possess the trade secrets.

19-What do we mean by the word “patents”?

Patents are documents issued by the government that allow the owner of the patent to exclude others from making use of the patented information for 20 yearsfrom the date of filing.

20-What do we mean by the word “Trademarks”?

Trademarks are words, phrases, designs, sounds, or symbols associated with goods or services.

21-Give three examples of trademarks?

Coca cola, Pepsi, 7up.

22-What are the copyrights?

Copyrights are rights to creative products such as books, pictures, graphics, sculptures, music, movies, and computer programs.

23-To make a credible presentation to the jury, At a minimum, the expert must show three things which are:

First, that the defect was recognizable by the designer.

Second, that there were means available to correct the defect when the product was designed.

Third, that the costs of corrective features would not price the product out of the market or interfere with the product’s effectiveness.

24-What do we mean by the term (informing the public)?

The responsibility of engineers to ensure that technical information is available to those who need it is especially where disasters can be avoided.

25-A conflict of interest exists for a professional when:

Acting in a professional role, he or she has interests that tend to make a professional’s judgment less likely to benefit the customer or client than the customer or client is justified in expecting.

Chapters 4&5:

1-The usual engineering definition of risk is?

‘‘a compound measure of the probability and magnitude of adverse effect.’

2-An acceptable risk is?

one in which the product of the probability and magnitude ofthe harm is equaled or exceeded by the product of the probability and magnitudeof the benefit.

3-What are the four limitation of Identifying Harm and Benefit in cost - benefit analysis?

First:often only the immediately apparent or focal consequences of a hazard are included, such as the number of fatalities or the number of homes without electricity. However, hazards can have auxiliary consequences, or broader and more indirect harms to society.

Second: both natural and engineering hazards might create opportunities, which should be accounted for in the aftermath of a disaster. Focusing solely on the negative impacts and not including these benefits may lead to overestimating the negative societal consequences of a hazard.

Third: there remains a need for an accurate, uniform, and consistent metric to quantify the consequences (harms or benefits) from a hazard. For example, there is no satisfactory method for quantifying the nonfatal physical or psychological harms to individuals or the indirect impact of hazards on society. The challenge of quantification is difficult and complex, especially when auxiliary consequences and opportunities are included in the assessment.

Fourth: current techniques do not demonstrate the connection between specific harms or losses, such as the loss of one’s home and the diminishment of individual or societal well-being, and quality of life. Yet it is surely the larger question of effect on quality of life that is ultimately at issue when considering risk.

4-Identify the risk from the capabilities standpoint?

a risk is the probability that individuals’ capabilities might be reduced due to some hazard.

5-Well-being is defined in terms of individual capabilitiesas?

the ability of people to lead the kind of life they have reason to value

6-Specific capabilities are defined in terms of functioningsas?

what an individual can do or become in his or her life that is of value

7-What are the examples of functionings?

being alive, being healthy, and being sheltered

8-A capability is

the real freedom of individuals to achieve a functioning

9-Utilities refers to

the mental satisfaction, pleasure, or happiness of a particular individual

10-Using utilities to measure the well-being of individuals is problematic because

happiness or preference-satisfaction is not a sufficient indicator of an individual’s well-being

11-there are four primary benefits of using the capabilities based approach in identifying the societal impact of a hazard.

First, capabilities capture the adverse effects and opportunities of hazards beyond the consequences traditionally considered. Second, since capabilities are constitutive aspects of individual well-being, this approach focuses our attention on what should be our primary concern in assessing the societal impact of a hazard. Third, the capabilities-based approach offers a more accurate way to measure the actual impact of a hazard on individuals’ well-being. Fourth, rather than considering diverse consequences, which increases the difficulty of quantification, the capabilities-based approach requires considering a few properly selected capabilities.

12-according to the capabilities approachA risk is acceptable if :

the probability is sufficiently small that the adverse effect of ahazard will fall below a threshold of the minimum level of capabilities attainmentthat is acceptable in principle

13-The ‘‘in principle’’ qualification captures the idea that,

ideally, we do not want individuals to fall below a certain level.

14-the law of torts deals with

injuries to one person caused by another, usually as a result of fault or negligence of the injuring party

15-in tort law theplaintiff must show:

1. that the defendant violated a legal duty imposed by the tort law,

ii. that the plaintiff suffered injuries compensable in the tort law,

iii. that the defendant’s violation of legal duty caused the plaintiff’s injuries, and

iv. that the defendant’s violation of legal duty was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries

16-The standard of proofin tort lawis less stringent than the standard of evidence in criminal proceedings, which calls for

proof beyond reasonable doubt

17-What is the trench box?

A trench box is a long box with an upside-down U-shaped cross section that is inserted inside the trench to protect the laborers

18-Engineers are placed in an awkward position with regard to the use of trench boxes, especially where the boxes are not required by building codes, because?

If they do not specify the use of the boxes, then they may be contributing to a situation that subjects workers to a high risk of death and injury. If they do specify the use of boxes, then they may be incurring liability in case of an accident because of the use of trench boxes.

19-the National Society of Professional Engineers has been actively lobbying the U.S. Congress to pass a law that specifically excludes engineers from liability for accidents where construction safety measures are specified by engineers but then are either not used or used improperly by others, because

This would enable engineers to more effectively protect the safety of workers.

20-Engineers have a complex relationship to the environment, because?.

On the one hand, they have helped to produce some of the environmental problems that plague human society. Projects designed by engineers produce toxic chemicals that pollute the land, air, and rivers. Engineers also design projects that flood farmlands, drain wetlands, and destroy the forests.On the other hand, engineers can design projects, products, and processes that reduce or eliminate these same threats to environmental integrity

21-what do the ASCE codes say about the environment

Engineers should be committed to improving the environment to enhance the quality of life

22-what is Sustainable development?

is a process of change in which the direction of investment, the orientation of technology, the allocation of resources, and the development and functioning of institutions [is directed] to meet present needs and aspirations without endangering the capacity of natural systems to absorb the effects of human activities, and without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and aspirations.

23-Most environmental laws focus on making the environment ‘‘clean’’, what is the meaning of the word clean here?

free from various pollutants

24-What are the five criteria for a ‘‘clean’’ environment?

Comparative criterion,Normalcy criterion,Optimal-pollution reduction criterion,Maximum protection criterion,Demonstrable harm criterion.

25-Define each criterion with its objection and application

26-Define the degree-of-harm criterion:

When pollutants pose a clear and pressing threat to human health, they must be reduced below any reasonable threshold of harm. Cost should not be considered a significant factor. Insofar as substances pose an uncertain (but possible) risk to health or when the threshold of danger cannot be determined, economic factors may be considered. If a harm is irreversible, its prevention should be given higher priority.

27-What are the three attitudes toward the Environment?

the sub-minimal attitude, the minimalist or compliance attitude, the progressive attitude

28-Give short description for each attitude?

The first attitude :the sub-minimal attitude.

Industries in this group do as little as is possible—and sometimes less than is required—in meeting environmental regulations. They often have no full-time personnel assigned to environmental concerns, devote as few financial resources as possible to environmental matters, and fight environmental regulations. If it is cheaper to pay the fines than make the mandated changes, this is what they will do. Industries in this group generally hold that the primary goal of the company is to make money, and environmental regulations are merely an impediment to this goal.

The second attitude : the minimalist or compliance attitude.

Firms adopting this orientation accept governmental regulation as a cost of doing business but often without enthusiasm or commitment. There is often a great deal of skepticism about the value of environmental regulation. Nevertheless, these firms usually have established company policies that regulate environmental matters and have established separate units devoted to them.

third attitude :the progressive attitude

In these companies, being responsive to environmental concerns has the complete support of the CEO. The companies have well-staffed environmental divisions, use state-of-the-art equipment, and generally have good relationships with governmental regulators. The companies generally view themselves as good neighbors and believe that it is probably in their long-term interests to go beyond legal requirements because doing so generates good will in the community and avoids lawsuits. More than this, however, they may be genuinely committed to environmental protection and even environmental enhancement.

Chapter 2:

1-What is Morality?

It concerns conduct: right and wrong, good and bad, the rules that ought to be followed

It is associated with consequences to ourselves, others, and the environment

2-Ethical dilemmas in management are not simple choices between “right” and “wrong” because:

They are complicated by the multiple alternatives, extended consequence, uncertain probabilities and career implications that are an inherent part of the decisions.

3-Figure out the ethical theories:

Teleology, deontology, Utilitarianism, Rights Ethics and Duty Ethics

4-The term teleology is derived from

The Greek work “telos” which means, “end” or “purpose”

5-The Teleologytheory suggests that :

Ethical reasoning concentrate on the consequence of human action, and all actions are evaluated in terms of the extent to which they achieve desirable results.

6-The term deontology comes from :

The Greek Word “deon” means “duty”

7-According to deontology theory:

Morality should not depend on our individual likings and disliking or on our abilities and opportunities.

8-The deontology theory says:

Always act in such a way that you can also will that the maxim of your action should become a universal law. The idea is very much like the golden rule – “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”

9-What do we mean by utility:

An act or thing has utility for a person if it makes them happy or brings pleasure or decreases pain.

10-Utilitarianism theory says that:

The view that we ought to produce the most good for the most people, giving equal consideration to everyone affected.

11-Rule-Utilitarianism is :

Applying those rules that if generally adopted would produce the most good for the most people

12-Act-Utilitarianism is :

Applying rules in order to produce the most good for the most people involved in the particular situation

13-Rights Ethics theory says:

Acts of respect for human rights are obligatory, regardless of whether they always maximize good.

14-Rights Ethics examples:

The right to life,the right to liberty ,the right to pursue happiness, the right to a lawyer, the right to freely practice a religion of choice, the right to express ideas or opinions with freedom as an individual, the right to freely live and travel within the country, the right to work, the right to marry, the right to free education, the right to join any peaceful parties or groups of choice, the right to be free from slavery, the right to not be tortured, the right to be treated as equal to others, the right to be considered to be innocent until proven guilty, the right to own property.

15-Examples of Liberty Rights:

Freedom of speech, The right to privacy, The right to be free from unreasonable searches of your home, The right to a fair court trial, The right to marry, The right to vote.

16-Duty Ethics :

The focus on duties which correspondence to and sustain fundamental rights