PHILOSOPHY 242: ETHICS for ENGINEERS and SCIENTISTS
Spring 2006
Instructor: Dr. Ron Wilburn
Office: CDC 430
Class hours and location: CCBC 221 Tu Th 5:30-8:20 pm
Office Hours: Fri. 2:30-3:30 and by appointment
Phone: 895-4334
Email:
I. INTRODUCTION
This is a course concerning the kinds of ethical issues that are likely to arise in the context of scientific and engineering practice. The main aim of this course is to hone students' abilities to recognize, articulate and approach ethical problems that arise in the science and engineering workplace. And this, I take it, is of more than mere academic interest. For, what our study ultimately promises, if all goes well, is a way to help working engineers and scientists work cooperatively to expand and strengthen institutional supports for ethical behavior that already exist in the professional environment.
To this end, we will address questions such as the following. How can fairness best be served in the formal recognition of research contributions? What responsibilities do individual researchers have to promote product safety? What constitutes negligence? When is individual or institutional ignorance culpable? How can intellectual property rights be best served? What is intellectual property and what protections does it deserve? Who are professionals responsible to? How should individual concerns regarding institutional responsibility be raised and pursued? Why must privacy be protected, and why is it important? What should be done about conflicts of interest? And, what responsibilities do scientists, engineers and the rest of us have to the environment and future generations?
Let me be forthright here. I’m not an engineer. I’m a philosopher, barely able to program my own VCR. But, as a philosopher, I might be able to help you pose questions about your own profession that have not occurred to you, or to suggest ways of addressing these questions that have not occurred to you. I will regard this course a success if I manage, in any way and to any degree at all, to make your own professional concerns somewhat more interesting to you.
II: TEXT
Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases, 3rd Edition, by Harris, Pritchard and Rabins. The references in this syllabus are to this book. There may also be various additional reading that I will make accessible to you through the course website from time to time. You will be able to access them by clicking on the appropriate links in the on-line syllabus.
III. EXAMS AND GRADING
80%: 2 in-class exams, each with both short answer and case study components. Note that the "final" exam is the latter of these. It will be as long as the midterm and will worth exactly as much as the midterm, but will be administered on the final exam date.
10%: A number of very short (one page or so) essay assignments on case-studies that I will make at various points during the semester, to be returned to me the following session. One reason I have for doing this is to encourage class discussion (I will solicit short class presentations of results). Another reason I have for doing this is to give students practice with the sorts of short essays that I will ask them to write for the midterm and final.
10%: In-class participation. I regard classroom attendance in this class as highly advisable. This is not to disregard the fact that absences are sometimes necessary. But they must be the exception rather than the rule. Also, I hate sending sixteen weeks talking to myself (so would you). I also prefer not to teach classes in which five or six students end up dominating class discussion because only five or six students show the initiative and courage to open their mouths. Therefore, I greatly appreciate active student participation in class. I reserve the option to occasionally call on students, especially ones I haven't heard from in a while. More often, I will ask for volunteers. Note that when I do either of these two things, I am no more interested in getting the right answer to whatever question I may be asking than I am in simply getting students to take a chance and participate in their own educational process. So, show up and talk (when appropriate). When you talk, you don't have to be right. You simply have to show that you have been keeping abreast of the material. If you don't like talking, talk anyway. I promise that talking will come to feel more and more natural and sincere to you the more and more you do it.
I will grade attendance by taking roll every class session starting the third week of class. I will grade participation in the following manner: When I receive your written work, I will mark each with a minus ("-"), a check (" /"), a plus ("+"), or a double-plus ("++"), signifying the level of participation I have observed so far. A minus means just that. I will subtract 10 points from the student’s final point score. However, I ascribe minuses only rarely, usually to students whose level of attendance and participation leaves me unable to remember them from Adam (or to students who are consistently disruptive in class). In practice, this means that students will receive a minus if they miss more than three class sessions (and, let's say, a double-minus if they miss more than eight, which means a total deduction of 20 points at the end of the semester. A check designates adequate attendance and little else. It neither adds nor subtracts from the student’s final score. Pluses add 10 points to the students final point score, and double-pluses add 20. Point values will be added and subtracted, as appropriate, at the end of the semester. You are free to take issue individually with my assessments (in office hours or by appointment -- never during class). But, no wars of attrition or fishing expeditions, please.
To make daily role-taking fast and easy and informal, I require that each student submit a “record page.” This is to consist of a letter-size sheet of paper onto which the student has photocopied his or her student ID (or any other personal photograph), and written his or her name at the top left-hand margin (last name first, first name last) in large block letters. This "record page" is to be given to me by the end of the third week of class (which is when I will start taking daily role). After this, students will be counted as "not absent" automatically until they have submitted a record page.
I also ask students to help me collect an email directory: To do this, I will pass out an email record sheet during the first week or so of class.
Our grading scale, with appropriate plus/minus distinctions, will be a standard one:
A B CD
90%+ 80%+ 70% + 60%+
Note that the grading software I use is designed to make it quick and easy for you to determine your course grade at any given point during the semester. The relevant information, regarding your class standing, present percentage, present letter grade, and present participation/attendance assessment, will be given to you on printouts which will accompany each returned exam.
This syllabus and all linked sites are available on-line. From the UNLV homepage at www.unlv.edu à click on academics à click on departments à click on philosophy à click on faculty à click on wilburn à click on Philosophy 242, at which point you will be led to this syllabus and its various and sundry links. Check this listing on a weekly basis to note changes and additions that will be made to syllabus.
Note also that a full list of student services is available at http://tlc.unlv.edu/resources/resources_student.html.
II. LESSON PLAN
Having taught university courses since dinosaurs roamed the face of the earth (or maybe it only feels that way), I have come to realize one thing: Every syllabus I write invariably ends up being a tissue of lies. Thus, remember that the following schedule of readings is approximate and subject to change. Consequently, I urge you to check the online version frequently to check for changes.
Week I: Engineering Ethics: Making a Difference
1. Tu 1/16/06: Introductory remarks (and puppet show); Read Ch. 1. Lecture Notes for Session 1.
2. Th 1/18/06: Video Presentation (“The Truth About Lies”) and discussion.
Week II: Responsibility in Engineering
3. Tu 1/24/06: Read Ch. 2. Lecture Notes for Session 3.
4. Th 1/26/06: Video Presentation (“Challenger”) and discussion.
Week III: Framing the Problem
5. Tu 1/31/06: Read Ch. 3. Lecture Notes for Session 5. Lecture Notes for Session 5.
6. Th 2/02/06: Video Presentation (“Testing Water/Testing Ethics”) and discussion.
Week IV:Organizing Principles
7. Tu: 2/07/06: Read Ch. 4.
8. Th: 2/09/06: Video Presentation (Gilbane Gold) and discussion. Gilbane Gold lectue material. Gilbane Gold supplemental material (Read before 2/14/06). Also, look at Ford Pinto Case Assignment (Due Midnight, Friday, Feb. 17th, 2006).
Week V: Computers, Individual Morality and Social Policy
9. Tu: 2/14/06: Read Ch. 5.
10. Th: 2/16/06: Continue Ch. 5. Lecture Notes for Sessions 9 and 10.
Week VI: Honesty, Integrity and Reliability
11. Tu. 2/21/06: Ch. 6. Lecture Notes for Session 11.
12. Th. 2/23/06: No Class (out of town)
Week VII: Midterm Exam
13. Tu. 2/28/06: Midterm Review. Midterm #1 Study Questions.
14. Th. 3/02/06: First In-Class Midterm Examination.
Week VIII: Safety, Risk and Reliability in Engineering
15. Tu. 3/07/06: Video Presentation (“Confusion in a Jar”) and discussion.
16. Th. 3/09/06: Read Ch. 7. Midterm #1 with Answers. Lecture Notes for Session 16.
Week IX: Spring Break
17. Tu. 3/14/06: No Class.
18. Th. 3/16/06: No Class.
Week IX: Engineers as Employees
19. Tu. 3/21/06: Read Ch. 8. Lecture Notes for Session 19.
20. Th. 3/23/06: Ch. 8 (cont.) and Video Presentation ("Professional ethics and engineering") and discussion.
Week X: Engineers and the Environment
21. Tu. 3/28/06: Read Ch. 9.
22. Th. 3/30/06: No Class (out of town)
Week XI: Engineers and the Environment (cont.)
23. Tu. 4/04/06: Video presentation ("Earth on Edge") and discussion.
24. Th. 4/06/06: Video presentation ("Earth on Edge") and discussion.
Week XII: International Engineering Professionalism
25. Tu. 4/11/06: Read Ch.10. Lecture Notes for Session 25.
26. Th. 4/13/06: Video presentation (“Kennewick Man”).
Week XIII: Engineering professionalism and Ethics: Global Challenges
27. Tu. 4/18/06: Read Ch. 11. Lecture Notes for Session 27.
28. Th. 4/20/06: Group 2 Video presentation (“Toxic Racism”) and discussion.
Week XIV: Ethics and Technology
29. Tu. 4/25/06: Read The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis online at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/lewis/abolition1.htm#1. Discussion.
30. Th. 4/27/06: The Abolition of Man discussion cont. Lecture Notes for Session 30.
Week XV: To Be Determined
31. Tu. 5/02/06: To be determined. The Abolition of Man discussion cont. Lecture Notes for Session 31.
32. Th. 5/04/06: Exam Review. Final Exam Study Questions.
Final Examination: Thursday May 11 6:00PM.
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