Dept. of Philosophy and History of Science

Engineering Ethics

Prof. Tihamér Margitay

Consultation: Monday, 8:15-10:00,E606. (A prior email note is kindly requested.)

1, Objectives

The purpose of this course is to help you

recognize and analyze ethical problems, risks and conflicts. (recognition and understanding)
make the right decision in morally delicate situations. (decision)
become committed to the performance of the right action. (action)

In sum, the objective of this course is to make you able to decide in a morally reflective and correct way and to make you able to act on your decision. Moral decision-making is in the focus of this course.

2, Topics, required readings and videos

2.1, Ethics in engineering, theoretical tools and codes

Readings:

Fleddermann, C.B. 2007. Engineering Ethics (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, N.J.:Prentice Hall. Ch 1-3.

Code of Ethics; American Society of Civil Engineers,

2.2, Ethical problem-solving and decision-making techniques

Reading:Fleddermann 2007. Ch. 3-4.

2.3, Psychology of moral decisions, some psychological traps that may affect ethical decisions

Readings:

Gigerenzer, G. 2007. Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious. New York: Viking. Ch. 10-11.

Ariely, D. 2008. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. New York: Harper. Ch. 11-12.

Videos:

Asch Conformity Experiment

Milgram Experiment and

Zimbardo, P. 2008. The psychology of evil. TED talk

2.4, Some ethical issues in civil engineering, cases and examples

Readings:Fleddermann 2007. Ch. 5-8.

What to do if you have made a mistake: „The Fifty-Nine-Story Night Crisis”. The New Yorker Magazin. 1995.05.29. 45-53. o. ( és

Videos:

Kansas City: Death by Design 1-2

Ethicana

3,Requirements

You should readthe mandatory readings and watch the videos carefully.
Written assignment: An essay is to be submitted by 03. 12. 2015 as an email attachment. See the details of the assignment overleaf.

4,Assessment

Performance will be assessed on the basis of the quality of the submitted paper. (See the details in the description of the assignment.)

Written assignment

Write a case-study in which

1)you describe an ethically relevant case involving an ethical problem that has no clearly right or wrong solution. You should describe it from a third person’s perspective like a reporter.(Do not describe as part of the case the decision that was made (if any) and disregard that solution while analyzing the problem in step 2.) The description should involve

i)who were involved

ii)what was at stake

iii)the clear formulation of the decision problem

iv)and all the pieces of information that are necessary to the analysis of the problem.

2)you analyze this problem with the ethical tools and problem-solving techniques that you have learnt in this course. Analyze the problem with a fresh eye disregarding any previous decision made in this case (if any). Use the discussed theoretical tools of ethical analysis and do not make a commonsense analysis.

3)Analyze the psychological traps that threatened the decision. Take the psychological mechanisms one by one you have learned about, in this course and discuss if they had any influence on the behavior of the participants of the situation.

The paper should be 4-6 pages long (1500-2500 words). Font: Times New Roman 11pt, double line-space. Format: doc or docx. File name: Familyname Firstname Engineering Ethics.doc (or docx)

Deadline: The paper should be submitted before 05.12.2016. 8:00 as an email attachment.

Assessment:

The following criteria will be applied:

Is the description of the ethical problem clear and sufficiently detailed? (Have you addressed all the three points above?)
Can you apply the tools of ethical analysis and decision-making to the particularsituation you describedclearly and terminologically correctly? (You should not discuss these tools in general. You should apply them in the particular case. You should not give a commonsensical analysis of the particular case. You should use the tools and concepts learned in this course.)
Is your psychological analysis correct and sufficiently detailed? (Have you discussed all the potential psychological traps threatening the ethical decision in the particular case?)
Is the wording of your paper concise, clear and precise? Do you use the terminology correctly?

If the paper is longer or submitted later than required, you will get only 60% of the points you would receive otherwise.