Engineering Ethics
Course facts
- Payment: Free, no certificate
- Credits: Non Credit
- Learning style: Self-paced, start anytime
- Resources: Lecture Audio
MIT OpenCourseWare details
- As taught in: Spring 2006
- Department: Engineering Systems Division
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Lecture audio on engineering ethics: Kant and Mill, the Challenger and Chernobyl cases, codes of ethics, whistle blowing and narrative ethics.
Engineers face moral questions that formulas do not settle, and this graduate course approaches them through philosophy and history together. Readings from Kant, Mill and Aristotle sit beside the Challenger, Ford Pinto, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island cases. A distinctive narrative approach has each student recast a historical case with an ancestor or mythic hero as a character, then compare the cases and recommend action.
What You Will Achieve
- Analyze engineering cases using Kant, Mill and Plato
- Convert an engineering dynamics problem into moral terms and solve it
- Write a hypothetical case using the narrative approach to ethics
- Research a cross-cultural ethics case and present it to a group
Program Overview
Theory
Ethics, philosophy of engineering and the case study method.
- Introduction to ethics
- Philosophy of engineering
- Codes of ethics and whistle blowing
Case Studies
The longest part, on historical cases and professional values.
- Chernobyl and Three Mile Island
- B. F. Goodrich A7D Air Force brakes
- Heroes, journeys and virtue in mythology
- Competency with good character
Research Projects
Team research on a selected case, with a public seminar.
- Public seminar on narrative ethics
- Human flourishing
- Student presentation
Course Completion
Job Outlook
This grounding informs engineering practice and leadership, including safety decisions and professional codes of ethics.
Good for: Engineers and graduate students who want to think hard about professional responsibility through philosophy, famous failures and storytelling.
Keep in mind: This 2006 course’s materials are lecture audio, with assignments only summarized, so you will need to find the readings. Its mythic storytelling approach may not suit readers wanting only codes and compliance.
Bottom line: A demanding and unusual treatment of engineering ethics, strongest for those willing to do the philosophical reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which engineering cases are discussed?
The lectures cover the Challenger and Ford Pinto cases, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and the B. F. Goodrich A7D Air Force brakes.
What is the narrative approach?
Each student writes a story by replacing a character in a historical case with an ancestor or mythic hero, drawing on Joseph Campbell, and compares the two versions.
Who else lectures besides Dr. Broome?
Prof. Joel Moses speaks on philosophy of engineering, Prof. Sheila Widnall on values, and Prof. Segun Gbadegesin joins a public seminar on narrative ethics.
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