In this blog post, we will examine why engineering ethics education is necessary in universities for engineers to fulfill their social responsibilities.
Today is the age of science and technology. Science and technology are closely linked to our lives and enable us to live prosperous lives. However, it also poses threats to humanity through military weapons, environmental destruction, and safety accidents. In this dual-edged sword of a technological society, engineers who develop technology need something more than just technical skills. That something is engineering ethics, and universities must strengthen their engineering ethics education. The reasons are as follows.
First, engineering ethics education contributes to the public discussion of organizational issues. This can help reduce technological disasters. As the number of engineers who are not merely technicians but also independent thinkers increases, they will consider the social impact and ripple effect of their work and freely express their opinions and engage in discussions about negative prospects. The importance of such a culture can be seen in the Challenger disaster. In 1986, the Challenger, a manned space shuttle carrying seven people, exploded in midair 73 seconds after launch. The explosion was caused by an O-ring, a rubber component, losing its elasticity at low temperatures and failing to perform its function. This single technical flaw shattered humanity’s dream of space exploration, which had required immense resources. However, the reason this disaster remains unforgettable to many people today is not simply because a manned spacecraft exploded or because humanity’s dream was shattered. It was because this technical disaster had already been predicted by some engineers. At the time, Roger Veazey, an engineer at Thiokol, discovered the technical flaw in the O-ring and raised concerns, but his warnings were ignored by management and his fellow engineers. Notably, while his colleagues agreed with Veazey’s technical assessment of the O-ring issue, they did not agree to delay the launch. This was due to an implicit culture that dictated that actions that would betray the president’s expectations and damage the company’s image must not be taken. If the fellow engineers had actively agreed with Roger Beazley’s opinion and jointly requested a launch delay, the outcome would have been different. From the management’s perspective, a launch delay requested by a single engineer could have been ignored, but a launch delay requested by multiple engineers would have been difficult to ignore. In this way, a culture where not only pleasant-sounding opinions but also unpleasant ones are objectively discussed and brought to light can prevent technological disasters. To foster such a culture, individual engineers must understand the potential impact of their work and be prepared to resist when that impact is socially negative. This is the core of engineering ethics, and therefore, through engineering ethics education, we can establish the right culture to prevent technological disasters.
Secondly, engineering ethics education can resolve issues of loyalty and collective responsibility. The issue of loyalty refers to the conflict that arises between an individual’s interests and those of the company or society. Generally, when one becomes part of an organization, a sense of loyalty to that organization develops. Even if there are safety defects in a company’s products, disclosing them to the outside is often seen as a violation of loyalty. The Challenger disaster mentioned earlier is a similar case. The reason why fellow engineers did not join Roger Boies in advocating for a launch delay was because they believed that ignoring the O-ring defect and preventing damage to the company’s image was an act of loyalty to the company. In this way, the issue of loyalty means that engineers blindly obey the organization they belong to. Engineers often end up doing what others tell them to do, and since the ripple effects of technological development are unpredictable, this issue of loyalty is an important ethical issue for engineers. However, loyalty is not limited to companies. There is also loyalty to society and the nation. However, most people prioritize loyalty to their company. This is because companies are tangible organizations that can be felt physically, unlike abstract entities such as society or the nation. When there is no ethical framework in engineering, loyalty to society weakens. However, when ethical education strengthens ethical values, engineers’ loyalty to society increases, preventing them from blindly following the company. This enables them to oppose the development of catastrophic technologies, such as chemical or nuclear weapons, that threaten humanity. Additionally, the issue of collective responsibility can be addressed. Responsibility often exhibits a phenomenon similar to the law of conservation of energy, where the total amount seems to remain constant. As the number of people involved increases, individual responsibility decreases. Collective responsibility refers to a situation where responsibility is分散 among the majority, leading no one to take ownership of an incident. When engineering issues arise in large organizations, most engineers tend to blame others rather than acknowledge their own mistakes. This situation makes it difficult to determine who is responsible and prolongs the time needed to fundamentally resolve the problem. However, when ethical standards are established, people’s sense of responsibility increases, preventing them from shirking responsibility. This fosters a culture where people acknowledge their own shortcomings, leading to active information exchange, clear accountability, and faster identification of the root causes of problems, thereby enabling the establishment of an efficient feedback system.
Third, engineering ethics education instills a sense of responsibility in engineers. The problems engineers face are highly diverse, and solving them requires specialized technical knowledge and skills. In some cases, the technical expertise required is so advanced that even other engineers, let alone the general public, may struggle to identify the issue. Additionally, today’s science and technology have reached a level where they pose a threat to human survival. For example, there are various technologies with potential threats, such as nuclear power plants and electromagnetic waves from electronic devices. In such a highly advanced scientific and technological society, if engineers continue to develop technology indiscriminately, the future of humanity could be seriously threatened. The technologies that engineers deal with can have an enormous impact on humanity, and in order to build a just society, the development of science and technology must be guided with caution. To this end, engineers must have a sense of responsibility for their work, and engineering ethics education helps to foster this sense of responsibility. A sense of responsibility and proper ethics are required of engineers not only in cases of severe damage, such as the Challenger disaster and the destruction of the ozone layer, but also in various other situations. For example, if a public official with an engineering background is faced with choosing between the products of Company A and Company B and receives a bribe from Company A, or if he receives investment funds to develop a time machine but continues to accept the funds even after realizing that a time machine is impossible, these issues are also related to engineering ethics.
In this way, engineers who receive ethics education can contribute to a corporate culture that brings organizational issues to light, address issues of loyalty and collective responsibility, and make responsible decisions in the face of frequent large and small problems. Therefore, universities need to strengthen engineering ethics education for engineering students.
