A Normative Approach to Ethical Engineering Design

About A Normative Approach to Ethical Engineering Design

Abstract

One of our tasks as Christian engineering educators is to motivate students to behave ethically as professional engineers. The Christian engineer is called to serve others through technology and guide the application of technology toward God’s purposes. Unethical behavior undermines an engineer’s ability to serve and is contrary to God’s directives. This task is not an easy one. Students may not recognize the ethical dilemmas inherent in engineering work or understand their own responsibility in making appropriate choices. They often focus on the technical aspects of engineering while ignoring ethical considerations because the issues are broader and more subjective. This paper presents an innovative method of teaching ethics as part of the design process. Design norms are moral guidelines based on Biblical principles. Normative engineering design attempts to balance design trade-offs not only among technical constraints but also among ethical constraints. Designing to such norms forces the engineer to consider the broader impact of the design on the society in which it will be embedded. Biblical design norms include concepts such as cultural appropriateness, transparency, stewardship, integrity, justice, and caring. These criteria can be incorporated into an expanded decision matrix, allowing the engineer to evaluate how well a proposed solution meets both ethical and technical constraints in an explicit trade-off. Because of this organized, quantitative approach, students are more likely to apply these ethical standards. By making the ethical judgments less abstract, both students and instructors will be motivated to integrate design norms into all levels of engineering evaluation.