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7/29/2019 Professional Ethics (Lecture-2) 2013
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Technological Designs: What Should
Morally Responsible Engineers Learn
from their Professional Ethics?
Dr. SATYA SUNDAR SETHY
Assistant Professor of PhilosophyDept. of Humanities & Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai-600 036, India
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Emotion and Technological
Design
What would be the possible risks avoided if
engineers incorporate the emotional reflection
in their work?
What kind ofemotion we are talking about?
How does emotion play a vital role for designing
a product?
Is it necessary for engineers to cultivate moralemotions and sensitivity in order to engage in
morally responsible engineering?
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Engineers & EngineeringEmotional engineers: Oxymoron
No technology is value neutral.
Technology has either bad or good consequences for thepeople.
Value-sensitive-design (value of life, value of environment..)
Whatever product Engineers made that determines theirbehavior
How are our beliefs incorporated in a design?
Public also influenced with these behaviors to choose a
technology (product) for their use.Obligation for engineers- include moral values- in their
design
Engineers should use their emotions in order to develop
morally responsible technologies.
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CONTINUE..
If moral decision making would be left to managers orpolicy makers, then it would take place after a product is
already designed/developed.
Without depending on the moral reflections of moral
experts, engineers should cultivate their own moral
expertise.
Since they have technical expertise, they can reduce the
risks of a technological product by developing a different
design.
Technological risks and benefits are not merely a
technical matter but also involve ethical aspects.
This requires a capacity to be aware of moral features.
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Risks, Values, and EmotionsEngineers: risk is a product of probabilities and unwanted
consequences.
They use cost-benefit analysis to weight the possibleadvantages vs. disadvantages
Cost-benefit analysis is not suffice to determine whether
a risk is to be accepted or not?Whether a risk is taken voluntarily?
Distribution of risks and benefits for people
Available alternatives to a technology
Risk should not be judged (quantitative notion + ethicalconsideration)
Acceptable= High probability of success +small effect
Unacceptable= Small probability of success + large effect
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CONTINUE..In the process, engineers have a richer understanding of
risk than experts.
Purely rational reflection (lack of imagining power)
Engineers need moral emotions in order to have wellgrounded insights into whether a technological risk is
morally acceptable or not?Why do we need to emphasize the emotional capacities
of engineers and how could this be achieved by them?
How can Engineers implement emotional reflection in the
engineering design process?Emotions are helpful in assessing moral values involved
in technologies.
It will enable engineers to play an important role inreflecting on morally responsible technological design.
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Will Emotion Affect the RationalDecision?Emotions about risks can be based on reasonable
concerns.
Reasonable concerns (justice, fairness, autonomy, etc.)
These concerns should be taken seriously by engineers
when they reflect on the risky aspects of thetechnological design.
Different people- various emotions- how to take a
decision?
Disagreement is nearly always a part of collectivedecision making.
Diverging views and emotions enable us to take a more
balanced judgment.
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CONTINUE.Emotion can also be mistaken/misread by us as well as
others.We should critically assess our emotions and also take
others emotions into our account while designing a
technology.
Emotion can be a source of ethical reflection (Lacewing,2005)
An emotion such as sympathy can correct egoistic
emotion (Roeser, 2010).
Emotion= Shame, resentment, guilt, blame, etc.(backward-looking responsibility)- failed responsibility,
ascribing negativity
Emotion= Sympathy, Empathy, compassion, etc.
(forward-looking responsibility)
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CONTINUE.Can we codify the rules and/or responsibilities for the
professionals????They should develop the context-sensitive insights
which requires moral emotions to nurture, evolve, anddevelop.
Engineers should be virtue-responsible persons.A virtuous person is one who developed his/her character
in such a way that (s)he steers a wise middle groundbetween extreme responses.
Moral emotions make engineers sensitive towards moralissues arising from the technology designs.
Thus, engineers should use their imaginative capacitieswhich they can draw from moral emotions to designhumane technologies.
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Risks and ResponsibilityEngineering design fixes the responsibility either to an
individual or to a group of people.
Risks and responsibility has no univocal definition.
Risk assessment (RA) vs. Risk management
Identification and quantification of risks (RA)Acceptability of risks and its societal management. Thus it
involves the question ofvalues.
Types of responsibility
--- Role responsibility (Heart, 2008)--- Causal responsibility (Heart, 2008)
---Capacity responsibility (Heart, 2008)
--- Liability responsibility (Heart, 2008)
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CONTINUE..--- Blame responsibility ( Wolff, 2006)
--- Virtue responsibility (Ladd, 1991)Role responsibility
It is linked to a specific position to which particular dutiesare attached. (A pilot is responsible for the flight of his
aircraft)Causal responsibility
It refers to the cause, understood in a quasi-mechanicalsense, of an event. (The storm is responsible for the planecrash)
Capacity responsibility
It refers to the capacity of an agent to fulfill his/herresponsibilities. Being responsible for his/her own actionsimplies having the capacity of understanding, reasoning,
and controlling the conduct. (Intoxicated driver)
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CONTINUE..Liability responsibility
It is the legal facet of responsibility
Blame responsibility
Blame occurs when there is violation of moral norm and
when someones behaviour is morally culpable. (terrorism,
naxalism, abducting someone, etc.)
Virtue responsibility
It is a form of responsibility which refers to moral
deficiency and not just to fault. The absence of care and
concern for the welfare of others. It ascribes how thingsare and how things should be or should have been
Bhopal tragedy (Even if no one was really at fault, safety
was not a priority of the management, )
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Deep-water Horizon Disaster
On April 20, 2010
Deepwater horizon disaster (Nearthe Mexico city)
Deepwater horizon exploded due to wellhead- blowout.
11 platform workers lost their lives
Causing an oil spill in the Gulf of MexicoReport said that this disaster had have avoided, if
engineers would have fixed a blowout preventer in the
desired place, proper cemented the well, examined the
regulatorys oversight.
Impact of the disaster: wildlife habitant, economic lost,
environment pollution, sea-life death, people affected
those lived in the Mississippi riverbed.
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CONTINUE..
August, 2010, The BP company announced that they puta CAP on the well, so no further danger to life.
Who is responsible for this tragic incident?
Duty + Responsibility + Accountability
The BP companyTony Hayward (of BP)
President - Mr. Barack Obama
The US govt. (the regulatory body)
Several other companies
Moral responsibility ascribes to agent, control condition,
knowledge condition (technological actions)
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CONTINUE..
Control condition: One should not be forced to dosomething
Knowledge condition: One must not ignorant of what one
is doing
Failure to control is an instance of wrong doing if onehas the possibility to control that.
Although no one has intention to make the disaster, but
nevertheless one cant escape form his/her responsibility
which contribute disaster to occur.Regardless Engineers good intention and required skills,
if tragic happened then how can one be responsible for
that tragic incident?
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Tragedy and Technology
Greek- Hybris: technology displays arrogance and lack
of humility
Nature will take the revenge if we try to control the
nature (Mumbai seashore incident)- fatalism/ luck
Kierkegaardian views: Disaster has two aspects
Engineers should cope with the technological risks. They
can able to FIX the problem. (activity)
Engineers should accept that they dont have full control
on the consequence of their actions, and they also cant
foresee anything in the consequence form (fatalism).
Thus, they depend on others- accountable for the
tragedy.
How far we can treat the tragic report as objective?
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Kierkegaardian Analysis
Helplessness (Computer crash- misuse)The unexpected and uncertainty (blind spots)
Conflicting roles (manager/policy maker and
engineer)
Dependency and collective action (fixing
accountability)
Lack of full control (receives advice from
experts)Choice when no option is right (avoided the
worst consequences)
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SUBMISSION
Engineers are advised to incorporate their
moral decisions/judgments while designing
the technology.
They cant evade from their moralresponsibilities.
Thus, they should understand their
responsibility
and be prepared to beaccountable for their actions in their life
endeavor.
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Suggested Readings
Emotional Engineers: Toward MorallyResponsible Design Sabine Roeser
Moral Responsibility, Technology, and
Experiences of the Tragic: From Kierkegaard toOffshore Mark Coeckelbergh
Risk and Responsibility: A Complex and Evolving
Relationship--- Celine Kermisch
(Science and Engineering Ethics, 2012)
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THANK YOU !