THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF ENGINEERS TO SOCIETY
The consideration of the social responsibilities of engineers involves the concept of introducing normative values into the generally positivist practice of engineering. The introduction of normative values into the practice of engineering, in turn involves the application of systems of ethics and ethical principles to the process of engineering practice and engineering management (Lynch & Kline, 2000).
The customary practice of engineering involves attention to the balancing of issues such as cost, efficiency, scheduling, best practices, and various types of risk in the design, construction, and completion of a project (Buckam, Ehrenfeld, & Rainwater, 2000). The application of systems of ethics and ethical principles to this process means that the engineer must overlay the customary practice of engineering with the ethical principle of "first, do no harm" (Schiemer, 1998, p. 70).
Ethical principles create a framework that permits the anticipation of conflict in relation to proposed actions or decisions in a variety of situations. Such conflicts may arise through the consideration of a potential action within the context of a single ethical principle, and through the consideration of a potential action within context of the complete ethical principle framework. Individuals typically reach decisions based on ethical principles within the context of an ethical framework. The major systems of ethics prevalent in contemporary health care environments are utilitarianism, deontology, and natural law (Sims, 1994).
Utilitarianism is a system of normative ethics that defines "good" as happiness or pleasure (Thompson & Thompson, 1997, p. 22). There are to approaches to the application of the concept of utilitarianism: (1) acting to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people; or (2) acting to achieve a stated goal, i.e., the end justifies the means (Thompson & Thompso...