Engineering Ethics: Peace, Justice, and the Earth

Engineering Ethics: Peace, Justice, and the Earth offers a new ethical foundation for the engineering profession. Modern engineering codes of ethics have primarily been developed using a Utilitarian approach. This book adopts a morally deep world view from environmental ethics as the basis for engineering practice. The fundamental canon of the new code of ethics is the following: Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the identified integral community. The key difference between the new code and existing codes is in the inclusion of an identified integral community. Several case studies are examined in light of the new code including the development of new tools for Mexican farmers, the design and fabrication of devices for the physically challenged, the mechanization of grape-picking in California and the development of transportations systems for the tourist industry in Churchill, Ontario, Canada. Using the new ethical code, a design methodology is developed based on the implicit notion of promoting justice and peace and reducing suffering. Implications of these developments for engineering education are also explored with a new paradigm for engineering education based upon the Integral Model. The present work is intended for practicing engineers and engineering educators as well as ethicists and philosophers.