Carmen
Mariana Pasca
International
Hospitality Management School- CMH-PARIS, France
E-mail: carmen.mariana.pasca@gmail.com
Chadi
Fouad Riman
American
University of the Middle East, Kuwait
E-mail: chadi_riman@yahoo.com
Submission: 2/4/2020
Revision: 3/10/2020
Accept: 5/12/2020
ABSTRACT
Ethics has many definitions, each depending on its
domain. In the ancient times, ethics was based on the principles of good action
and the search for the common good.
Generally, Ethics is understood as a system of moral principles which
affect our ways of living. Ethics are related with what is good for society and
individuals and is described as moral philosophy. Ethics only makes sense if we
put them in the context of human action understood as responsible, creative and
communicative. Applied Ethics and Codes of conducts have appeared in the
contemporary period. One of the key issues in the engineering education ethics
program is the problem of margins/limits of autonomy that will enable future
engineers to act ethically in accordance with universal ethical principles and
the existing codes of ethics. Computer ethics adds the intellectual property
rights, and also the use of personal data. The paper shows a general review of
ethics, its history, its evolution, with an emphasis on engineering education.
It also mentions the big data issue in ethics.
Keywords: ethics; engineering education; engineering ethics; computer ethics
1.
INTRODUCTION
The whole history of Human Societies
has been marked by the tensions and conflicts generated by the development of
Science and Technology. Thomas Kuhn, in his book Scientific Revolutions (1962),
illustrated this idea and wrote that scientific progress is the mirror of
changes in the social world "when paradigms change, the world itself
changes with them’ and ‘after a revolution scientists are responding to a
different world’ (Kuhn, 1962).
In his approach to the scientific
paradigm, Kuhn highlights the importance of the "social use of
sciences" and considers that values, beliefs, and traditions are the main
components of scientific theories and they are transmitted and propagated by
the scientific community in society. The paradigm is a model of thoughts, and a
set of substantial propositions taken for granted. It is constituted by the
general laws and technical applications where members of a particular
scientific community agree to adopt a standard on which their research must be
conducted.
Margret Masterman
identified "21 possible meanings for a paradigm" and argued, they can
be compressed into three encompassing categories, which she termed the
metaphysical (meta-paradigm), the sociological, and the art factual (Orman, 2016). "The paradigm term is analyzed stressing
on two different senses of paradigm –disciplinary matrix and exemplar. It is
also showed why the process of a paradigm shift, for Kuhn, leads to a
scientific revolution and the revolutionary stages of such shift are explained.
Finally, Kuhn’s argument on incommensurability of competing paradigms and the
problem of objectivity are also discussed in order to show the problematic
aspects of the concept" (Orman, 2016).
In the first one, paradigm
designates what the members of a certain scientific community have in common,
that is to say, the whole of techniques, patents, and values shared by the
members of the community. In the second sense, the paradigm is a single element
of a whole, stands for the explicit rules, and thus defines a coherent
tradition of investigation (Orman, 2016)
For the sociologist Alain Touraine
the complexity of the contemporary world requires a "paradigm shift"
which encompasses all these historical, societal and cultural changes
(Touraine, 2005). In his conception, the dynamics of this new paradigm shift
illustrate the significant link between Historicity and these Societal Changes.
(Touraine, 1992)
Alain Touraine argues that the
concept of Historicity is the analytical tool to apprehend the changing world
(Touraine, 1965, 1973). Historicity refers to the capacity of society to act
upon itself, to intervene in its own functioning, to produce its normative
orientations and to construct its practices at a given moment in its History.
He argues that classical social and economic categories, through which
sociology had analyzed the previous society, have lost their dominant
epistemological position and no longer read the type of society which is
presently emerging.
Therefore, it is necessary to build
a new paradigm allowing us to comprehend this world based on virtual and real aspects(Touraine,
2005) characterized by the merging of the virtual world, delocalized Internet,
virtual networks, and the real world of industrial facilities and production.
The new world, perceived as both
virtual and real, has emerged because of the technological rupture leading to a
transparent, expanded, and sharing universe of the future industry 4.0 all the industrial revolutions intervened
with the appearance of the energetic changes and the means of communication (Gimelec Report -Industrie 4.0, 2013).
In the XIX century, a revolution
took place due to the convergence between coal and printing industries which
affected the whole knowledge system and produced important social and political
changes and transformation. In Europe today, we are witnessing the emergence of
a new model of convergence, the convergence of communication and energy. The
communication merges with a new energy mode, i.e., the distributed energy. We
are moving from the era of centralization to an era of horizontalism,
and decentralization, leading to sharing and collaborative functioning (Gimelec Report -Industry 4.0, 2013).
All these transformations represent
the beginning of the forth-industrial revolution, which involve the adaption of
social model to new forms of work, such as
cooperative and network work, decentralized micro-industrial production, all
based in less hierarchical and centralized forms of organization, rendered
possible through “connected intelligences".
The fourth industrial revolution has
already laid down its "technological bricks" and contributed to the
emergence of "integrated industry",
"innovative factory" or "industry 4.0"("smart
industry) based on the flexibility of communication systems (totally
interconnected) and the decentralized artificial intelligence. The industry 4.0 is based in the convergence
between products, tools and professions.
This new type of industry will affect the industrial paradigm in its
organizational, technological, and cultural aspects (Gimelec
Report, 2013).
These changes will emphasize how
crucial are the social implications of technology and its reflection on the
respective societies.
Going back to History, during the
three previous revolutions (mechanical production, steam power, large scale
production and electricity, automated production, and robots), humanity has
experienced evolutions and revolutions that have profoundly changed the human
life in terms of work and its organization. The traditional manufacturing
processes have been characterized by a very clear division of labor. Nowadays, the new model of work organization
and management has changed the role because of the increase of open platforms,
virtual work, and the development of interactions between man-machine and man-system
with repercussions on the regulation of work and the private lives of people.
The purpose of industrial society
coupled with the scientific and technical developments is to simplify the human
life, by improving the quality style, and increasing the life expectancy.
However, the hard power of Science and technologies transformed individuals
into victims of the same technological progress. Individuals became prisoners
of industrial society, building a system of ethics to justify the instrumental
reason, namely profit, consumerism, domination and control.
The society upholds the power of
Science over the power of Man. The individual loses the capacity to make
ethical choices. Ethical actions become
limited and cause individual alienation. Technological society contributes to
individual alienation because of increasing addiction or reliance on
technology.
Nowadays we move from social order
to the cultural order, which is built on ethical and cultural rights, which are
understood as universal, and necessitating new ethical paradigm based on human
dignity and responsibility.
Through the technological
development, Science creates a violent society causing destructions and wars.
Therefore, Engineering Education must bring about critical analysis of
utilization of technologies. The human evolution showed that, in the blind
pursuit of technological development, there are many examples of questionable
ethics and morality.
During the first Industrial
Revolution, the factory system was one of the sources of risks and inequalities
(gender and income) such as the lack of safety and security standards, the use
of children labor, the employment of women in dangerous places. Nowadays, all this phenomena creates an
increasing separation or divide through the digital technology exclusion, such
as unequal regional development, new poverty and poor, destruction of social
bonds and communication.
In France today, the digital divide
is worsened for elderly who do not have access to internet networks, equipment
and the dematerialization of the administrative procedures such as payment of
taxes, online declaration of resources, online access to social security,
health insurance and pension funds (CSA Research, Etude, 2017). This makes these people more vulnerable by excluding
them from access to social life. The society must advocate new steps in this
direction by restoring the digital link between poor citizens, and elderly
persons through friendly applications.
Another symbol of power control by
new technologies on individuals and society is the monopoly of Big Data. The
technical definition of Big Data refers to its ability to capture, to search,
to share, to store, and to provide massive data. Nowadays,
the need for analytics and the use of massive digital data have brought
new ways of seeing and analyzing the world by the search of sense through its
capacity to give meaning to a large number of unstructured data, thanks to
their high speed processing. Big Data
deeply modified the classical decisional and traditional making processBig Data has profoundly shaken our societies,
opening a new stage, described by some authors as an industrial revolution
similar to the discovery of steam (early 19th century) electricity (late 19th
century) and computing (end of the 20th century) or being the last stage of the
third industrial revolution, that of "information".
According to Dana Diminescu et Michel Wieviorka,Big
and digital Data are considered as
"an integral part of a new scientific culture" (Bert-Erboul, 2015), is at the center of cultural and anthropological
changes. Henceforth the social sciences
should seize to face the new dominant players, whether they are political,
economic or technological.
This phenomenon generates ethical
consequences due of the unethical use of these massive Data such as unfairness,
and negative economic outcomes, for example benefiting from the fiscal dumping
and affecting the society and individuals.
Governments are also concerned about
open data and have tried to regulate the access and the use of these data though
normative tools.
From an ethical perspective, the
need of direction in responsible Big Data research became a priority: "is real urgency to define what a
‘‘human subject’’ is in Big Data research and critically interrogate what is
owed to ‘‘data subjects.’’(Metcalf& Crawford, 2016) and reinforces the idea
that the "cultural resistance of individuals" represents today's one
of the ways of the defenses of "human dignity" (Touraine, 2015).
The consequences of global
interconnected systems, which affected our lives, open the debate in social
sciences and humanities about the role of human factor in the decision-making
process in all fields of human activities.
According to the social scientists and philosophers, nowadays all these
mutations are the mirror of new dominant forms of power systems (technological
and informational).
Recently, ethics recently emerged as
an important topic for engineering students. Future engineers have to be aware
of their ethical duties. In the next sections, origin and evolution of ethics
education is discussed, followed by ethics from sociological perspective, then
ethical education for engineering students, the pedagogical issues, a
discussion, big data ethics, and finally a conclusion.
2.
PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH TO ETHICS
EDUCATION /ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
Ethics is understood as a system of
moral principles which affect our ways of living, how people make decisions and
how later these decisions affect our lives. Ethics are related with what is
good for society and individuals and is described as moral philosophy.
The word "ethics" can be
used in at least "three common senses". In one sense, it is a mere
synonym for ordinary morality. In another, it names a field of philosophy
(moral theory, the attempt to understand morality as a rational undertaking).
In a third, it refers to those special standards of conduct that apply to
members of a group just because of that membership". In engineering field,
ethics is understood as a " interpretation, application, and revision of
engineering's special standards of conduct" (Davis, 1998).
From his perspective, the difference
between the moral values or engineers commitments and ethics, special standards
of conduct, still very important and helps to understand how ethics evolves
over the time and different they are from country to country or field to field
. The author mentioned honesty, efficiency and safety as engineering values and
"reasons for adopting
"standards of conducts" or standards of practice including a code of ethics "witch "tell us how
we should act" (Davis, 1998).
The author emphasized that the
engineer should be understood differently:
I began by thinking that engineering was primarily about things, a
complex but fundamentally unimaginative application of science, mere "problem
solving" (as even engineers will describe it, if you let them). I have
come to understand engineering quite differently: as the practical study of how
to make people and things work together better—an undertaking as creative as
art, as political as law, and no more a mere application of science than art or
law" (Davis, 1998). He made a clear distinction between occupation and
profession and emphasized that their code of ethics is based on their
profession.
Engineering ethics is kind of
applied, or practical, philosophy. It is concerned with understanding and
helping to resolved-certain moral problem arising in the practice of
engineering.
The term is derived from the Greek
word "ethos". This concept refers to custom, habit, character or
disposition and covers dilemmas around the conflict of interests and values
such as how to live a good life, human rights and responsibilities, the right
and wrong and the moral decisions.
The concepts of ethics and morality
have undergone a long historical evolution, thus marking the philosophical
tradition from antiquity to the present days. Aristotle and Plato based their
ethics on the principles of good action and the search for the common good,
by articulating the
human action with the order of
the world. Aristotle identify the
"virtuous action"
and "virtuous activity" with the " virtuous life": "the unique function of
the man is to act according with a rational principle , with virtue in a complete
life" (Lewis, Kellogg&2011).
In the ancient world, Aristotle and
Plato based their ethics on the principles of good action and the search for
the common good. Some authors considered
that "the classical vision of the common good (common bonum)
with its ancient roots (Plato, Aristotle) understood as the expression of a
higher interest is no longer adapted to the modern and post-modern paradigm of
the actual ethical reflection which
takes place in a profoundly different
social, cultural and historical context" (Muller , 2004).
Nowadays we can add that ethics only
makes sense if we put them in the context of human action understood as
responsible, creative and communicative. These dimensions are illustrated in
the philosophical thoughts of Jürgen Habermas (1992)
and Hans Joas (1999).
During the Modern period, Emanuel
Kant was the defender of the idea of universalism, whose values such as the
reason, the law, the morality and ethics would be supposed to be able to apply
to the whole of humanity (Wieviorka, 2015).
In the Groundwork for the
Metaphysics of Morals (1785) Kant distinguishes between two types of actions
(acts according to duty and acts by duty). The first is based on the idea of
legality and interest and the second on morality or an action made by wanting
to accomplish the one's duty and linked
the idea of action with the idea of will, considered as autonomous,
because it gives itself its own law.
He begins his Groundwork for the
Metaphysics of Morals (1785) with the claim that the only thing of
unconditional value is a good will, argues that such a will manifests itself
only in doing one’s duty for its own sake, and then concludes that since doing
duty for its own sake deprives the will of any object of desire as a reason for
action, nothing is left as a possible principle of morality “but the conformity
of actions as such with universal law (G, 4:402)in (Guyer,
2006).
In his ethical thoughts, Kant
associated the idea of human dignity with autonomy and freedom. The human
dignity derives from the moral law, and is an intrinsic value. By considering
"autonomy as a principle of the dignity of human nature and of all
reasonable nature", Kant remains a source of inspiration for the
development of ethics by associating freedom and universality.
Later on, Max Weber made the
distinction between two types of rationalities. The ethics of Francois Vatan in his article, “The engineer spirit: computational
thinking and economic ethics" argued that the first type of rationality
deals only with the coherence of action and regarding the axiological choices.
The second, embodied mainly in the practice of the engineer and the economist,
this would bring back the means to the finalities in an economic perspective.
He mentioned the permanent connection in the engineering work between
calculation and moral values. The ordinary engineer may not always be aware of
the values he implements, he is often duped by the objectivity of his
calculation, forgetting the construction that makes it possible and the value
of standards that govern it" (Vatan, 2008).
Debates in ethics always emphasize
on the importance of action. JurgenHabermas in the
Ethics of the discussion (1991) highlights the idea that the human being, finds
his freedom in the communicative action and the ethics is built by the
discussion and the consensus, called by Habermas the
moral of communication, real and not idealistic.
The central question of his ethics
is about how an action can be judged morally and how through the rational
discussion we can found moral norms.
According to Habermas, this moral norm comes
from many people and not from a particular individual; it is the contrary to
moral obligation as in Kant moral philosophy, and the whole purpose of Habermas
theory is to build the moral norms , and
standards shared by all individuals .
The contemporary philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, in his book Ethics and Morality (1990) answered
the question of whether to distinguish morality from ethics. He writes that
nothing in the etymology or in the history of the use of words is impossible.
One comes from Greek, the other from Latin, and both refer to the idea of
morality (ethos, mores); however, a nuance can be discerned, depending on
whether the emphasis is on what is considered good or what is mandatory.Human action is a central category of ethics and
is intentional. The subject gives to his action a double purpose: the practical subject will do two
things at once: as a person, certain gestures, and as consciousness, certain
aims (Descombes, 1991).
In addition, ethics refers to
standards of conduct established by society, after reflecting on what is good
or bad. Morality is established by the standards of conduct of a person or
group of persons; it is the framework of our personal behavior. Morality is
governed by relative values such as good and evil, where ethics is the
definition of acceptable or unacceptable behavior through reasoning.
Applied Ethics and Codes of conducts
have appeared in the contemporary period, starting from 21 century.
Etymologically, the word deontology comes from the Greek deontos
which means duty. Deontology is Ethics
applied to professions and establishes rules and duties for members of the same
professional activity or profession. It should be emphasized that ethics and
deontology are influenced by the diversity of cultures and values according to
the traditions and history of each society. This is what professional practices
are governed by.
In engineering, this aspect is
obvious when it comes to comparing the professional practices of engineers
trained in France or the United States. As for the professional practices they
are governed by different standards and ethical requirements.
Early experiments in engineering
education culminated in EcolePolitechnique in France
was built in Enlightenment philosophy, "scientific and democratic
idealism" and human progress. The author mentioned also the British
Institution of Civil Engineer (1882) which followed the same philosophy,
specially, in the civil engineering considered as a "art of directing the
great sources of power in Nature for the use and convenience of Man"
(Davis Michael, p.15).
Until today the engineer's
commitments for the human progress are considered as fundaments of engineering
ethics. Davis cited two examples related with the Enlightenment values, the
Military Academy at West Point in USA (1817), the first school of engineering
which started the engineering education, curriculum and methods and the
"most widely adopted code of Engineering Ethics" in the United States
"engineers uphold and advance the integrity, honor, and dignity for the
engineering profession by using their knowledge and skills for the enhancement
of human welfare" (Davis, 1998, p. 15).
Ecole Polytechnique de Paris contributed to the emergence of
engineering in the world. Today its mission is to educate future engineers
"For the Homeland, Science and Glory\Napoleon Bonaparte" and link
their education with the historical tradition of France with a strong emphasis
on science, anchored in humanist traditions and ethical values. The school educates socially responsible
future professionals who will excel in complex and innovative projects that
meet the current and future challenges of our society.
The core of philosophy is structured
around the idea that the confrontation and cooperation of disciplines,
including philosophy, contribute to the development of innovation based on the
ethical principle and responsibility. Its role is to convey to its students that
ethical values complement knowledge. The role of dissemination of knowledge of
the Universities is not limited to research publications but extends to online
education through "Open Online Training". Its influence across the
community is beyond a mere educational and scientific level and extends beyond
the concept of creating knowledge. In the same tradition, Ecole
des Mines was continuing to promote the humanistic model by creating the
"social engineer (Audren&Savoye, 2008).
3.
ETHICS FROM SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Today we live in a world dominated
by uncertainty and the risks that are changing us. Therefore, transforming our
capacity to act and cope with the complex logics of globalization shaping the
relationships between individuals, and the individuals with the world (Wieviorka)
According to Touraine (2013),
society as we have known until today disappears due to the loss of old
references that have structured social relations. Pre-industrial societies
defined by politics, law, nation or states, were dominated by the idea of
progress conveyed by the Industrial Revolution. Techniques, machines, and
wealth have produced unprecedented economic and social transformations,
allowing societies to create and destroy themselves in the name of the same
progress.
Work, social classes, competition,
and investment were the founding elements of social relationships, but now we
are leaving social societies and entering into the post social era named by the
French sociologist the end of societies. In the current world where the new
Technological developments, systems of information and communication
technologies (ICT), and digital transformation are shaking up our experiences
and practices, despite its strong impact on our practices, the consequences are
out of control and hard to predict .
In Post-Social stage (Touraine,
2013), these transformations reveal much more complex realities, such as the
control exercised by the power systems as defined by the French sociologist as
systems of domination (science, politics, economic, and finance), not only over
the objective world, economic or technological, but also over our subjective
world (representations, and values) influence our ways of acting.
The fundamental question facing our
societies is how to find new means that allow us to resist these changes. For
Touraine (2013), a new ethical paradigm based on a conception of the world that
opposes all current systems of power will be the fundamental condition for the
formation of collective consciousness and action. In his latest book, We the
Human Subjects (2015) he reiterated the idea developed in his previous work
(Touraine, 1993) that the cultural or ethical model directs and interprets
social practices. Ethics for him has become the central issue of our times.
Through its mobilizing momentum,
ethics contributes to strengthening the will of human subjects to become
autonomous and responsible actors. Ethics and education increase the cultural
resistance of social actors against technocratic or political domination
systems. The new challenge of collective action is cultural or ethical
(Touraine, 2013). In the current context, all spheres of social life and all
professions are concerned by the quest for ethics. Ethics guide those actors to
redefine their actions and find answers to ethical questions related to their
new social and societal responsibilities.
At this point it is very important
to mention that social approach from engineering ethics perspective focus in
the idea that the ethics are "at least in part the product of social
decision and the standards of engineering ethics "derive from the morally
binding contract with society" (Davis, 1998).
The world of engineering is caught
up in the whirlwind of accelerated globalization and the effect of these
transformations will influence the profession and professional practices, thus
needing ethics as a part of the curriculum design and making it as a must. The
introduction of moral philosophy and codes of deontology in the education of
engineering students is a priority because they must be prepared to face the
new challenges and risks pertaining to their professional practice in the
globalized world.
The uncertainty concerning the
safety and security of the human beings remains a priority for their
future. Ethics education is also a
challenge by itself, because it allows future engineers to understand the
dilemma of a contemporary man, shared between his subjectivity, his personal
values and convictions and the values of the objective, economic world related
to profit and consumerism. This warrants
serious consideration of the following questions;
What sense of professional
responsibility will the engineering students give to their actions, choices and
decisions, How will the engineers be
able and be prepared to resolve the conflicts or dilemma generated by different
social roles(as individual, engineer, manager or businessman) ? The logic
imposed by the employer/organization on the graduate students as they emerge
into the workforce and the constraints resulting from the obligation to respect
the technical rules make their ability to act ethically, in certain cases
limited, and as a result they disregard
the moral aspects.
4.
ETHICAL EDUCATION FOR ENGINEERING
STUDENTS
One of the key issues in the
engineering education ethics program is the problem of margins/limits of
autonomy that will enable future engineers to act ethically in accordance with
universal ethical principles and the existing codes of ethics.
Ethical education can provide
engineering students with the proper tools to making decisions taking into
consideration the individual, professional and societal impacts.
In Making of a Humane Engineer, Weingardt (2013) referred to Florman’s
main idea: engineers are both technical experts and citizens of the world. They
have very high introspective, existential level, and they are competent and
qualified professionally and those qualities contribute to the successful
development of society.
In Introspective engineer (1996), Florman argued that it is "the profession most
essential, to the well-being of society" (Pfatteicher,
2017) and in Existential Pleasures (1996) characterizes the engineer as
"logical, sober, and well meaning, a very good citizen" (Pfatteicher, 2017)
and describes the nature of the
engineering experience in our time , engineering is "existential" .
Ethical competence and skills are
considered professional and Florman (1993) wrote
"we create engineering works not only to survive and prosper but also to
express transcendent aspirations". Also this point of view is shared by
French sociologists, Touraine and Wieviorka, and it
is considered as a capacity of social actors to build their subjectivity
through the process of subjectivation. Florman insists on the fact that engineers are not totally
depending on logic in all situations, remembering that emotion and belief also
play a big part in many decisions.
He emphasized that the role of
liberal arts disciplines is to shape the engineer’s identity by virtue of
education, experience, and bring benefits to their work and to the
society. He confers that ethical
dimensions is the belief in scientific truth considered as an important
dimension of engineering profession and practice. He shared that there is a
link in the ability of engineers to be hard workers and ethical persons.
The new engineer identity provides
them with openness in promoting various changes requirements. In both books, Existential Pleasures and
Introspective Engineer, Florman highlights a belief
that engineering view has much to contribute to the society and engineers they
have a "powerful potential "but they also have" many unfortunate
characteristics" and calls for sensible reform educational reform of
undergraduate engineering education in order to help engineers overcome these
obstacles and prepare them for political and social leadership. He considered
that such efforts at self-improvement will be worthwhile for engineers and
society (Pfatteicher, 2017).
Engineering has long been a source
of ethical concerns, which evolved through decades. Currently, engineering is a
complex and multidimensional practice of technology development and requires
multidisciplinary approach. This means the ability to think differently in the
overall education for future engineers, in terms of challenges and
opportunities.
Ethics is part of the corpus of
humanities and social sciences known as SHS and it is integrated in the
curriculum design for engineering education.
In France, the SHS were
institutionalized in 1950 and the contributions of Georges Friedmann,
author of the Traité de sociologie
du travail (1962) and Alain Touraine (Sociology of action, 1965, 2000) or actionalism understood as a sociology of work were very
important in emphasizing the link between the technical and the social,
dimensions of human life which seem apparently dissociated (Roby, 2015).
Technical evolution is at the same time human evolution and understanding its
meanings is a requirement on the horizon of the new industrial revolution.
The social sciences and ethics
contribute together to the development of reflexive thinking by enlightening
the importance of freedom of choices and sense of the decisions to be taken in
the context of these transformations.
The technical transformation is not
the simple modification of a knowledge; it is the transformation of the way of
life and a series of social relations arising from it; the technical problem is
not the only problem, it is a human and social problem, and this is only by neglecting its essential
aspects that we have tried to give a technician title or more exactly
technician interpretation (Catherine Roby , 2015), Nowadays, using social and
ethical approach in technical education for engineers confirm Friedman's and
Touraine`s intuition according to which the apprehension of the world of
changing values requires a call for personal freedom as understood as the
capacity of human subjects through their action to reconcile the technical and
economic world with the world of subjectivity, the means with the finalities
(Touraine, 2005).
Ethical education for engineering
students and future engineers is becoming a priority because in today's world,
science and technology are considered part of these new social and human
realities characterized by the convergence of the virtual world with the real
world. The smart technologies accompany people and it is necessary to conceive
the new educational and training programs to reinforce their ability to cope
with all these changes by integrating these new dimensions in their social and
professional practices.
In this new context, the ethical
conduct of future engineers is a major issue. They must learn how to protect
their know-how and against new cyber-risks, and ethics will be the appropriate
tool for them to face the new war called cyber-criminality. In addition, the
future engineers will be aware and ready to act and react ethically to the
uncertainty produced by these evolutions. Creation of sustainable industries by
the future engineers mean useful solutions for society and individuals and
remodeling as well the relationships between human being and the machine.
Humanities and social sciences are
crucial in future professional training. New specializations and professions
will emerge which will require new competences adapted to network operation
already called competence industry 4.0. Expanded knowledge diffused by the new
information and communication technologies and the experiences produced by the
smart industry will require transversal skills, human and ethical competences.
The challenge is to determinate
educators to bring ethics into every aspect of curriculum design. This will
enable educators to focus on human factor as an important part of the
technological society. This will enable
to strengthen interpersonal communication and understanding, to learn how to
show respect for cultural, social traditions, and to create a human engineer
with a soul, no universality of technical inventions should be considered without
understanding the human been and his deep subjectivity, by articulating the
universal with the particular, and the universal ethical and moral principles
with individual ethics.
Engineering education must bring
about critical analysis of utilization of technologies. The power of sciences should be converted
from hard into the soft power through the new engineering practices, which
enables individuals to solve their ethical dilemma and issues by reconciling personal
and professional ethics with organizational practices and policies, taking into
consideration human subjectivity, emotions and feelings.
There is a need to humanize
engineering curriculum, the new balanced approach which articulates educational
contents with the needs of individuals and society. One of the most important
factors for future engineers is to develop their ethical actions and
decision-making capacities.
Practicing soft skills enables the
new engineers to acquire greater ethical competence, reflection, as well as
developing a new conscience and identity to realize that their choices are
based on ethical preferences (individual and social) and these decisions and
actions have a direct and phenomenal impact on his fellow human being. The
engineer with a conscience is structured through this ethical education. Engineering students need to realize their
fundamental responsibilities to make the right decisions, adapt best safety and
security standards to reduce the risks of accidents and industrial and
ecological disasters.
5.
THE PEDAGOGICAL ISSUES
Engineering students have to be
aware of their ethical duties towards society, and clients, also towards their
profession, organizations and employers. Stephen H. Unger highlight the
importance of learning professional responsibilities associated with their
chosen profession and he focuses on the main objectives of education in
professional ethics.
The main contribution of professional ethics is to teach the future
engineers how "to recognize and deal
with interface problems, the need to emphasize the moral conduct such as the
fair play, the honesty by including them in
their good practices which involves both technical and ethical aspects
(Unger, 2005).
He brings together the objectives of
education in professional ethics with the idea of personal responsibility of
engineers and write, "engineers are personally responsible for the
consequences of their work and "they cannot properly suspend their moral
judgments when they enter in the work place". In his opinion these
objectives represents "a basic precept incorporated in all modern
engineering codes, the duty to safeguard the public health, safety and
welfare".
Through these objectives he points
out the cooperative nature of engineering which according to our interpretation
, the propensity of engineering students to deal with and solve the ethical
issues is not acquired, but it can be developed gradually through their
professional ethical education. In their training, engineering students must
learn what value they have to attribute to their perceived moral beliefs
through their natural connection with individual and societal responsibilities.
Also to develop their critical thinking not only to solve ethical issues but
also to increase their human capacities such as reflection, interrogations and
interpretation of the expanded social reality.
This core of ethics needs constant
adaptation and flexibility. The students have to be able to identify, define
and understand the gap between the universality of the application of ethical
principles and the particularity of social, cultural and religious contexts.
The educational contents vary from
one culture or society to another and these variations are visible through
different approaches, methods and the instruments applied into the educational
and learning process.
The strategic importance of the
educational project is to give value to ethics courses for engineers in order
to reconcile instrumental reason with ethical reason. This reinforces the
contribution of the ethics program both to the personal development of the
future responsible engineers and to the construction of a more democratic
society, which is based on justice, responsibility and accountability.
6.
DISCUSSION
Some common issues of computer
ethics include intellectual property rights (such as copyrighted electronic
content), privacy concerns, and how computers affect society.
For example, while it is easy to
duplicate copyrighted electronic (or digital) content, computer ethics would
suggest that it is wrong to do so without the author's approval. And while it
may be possible to access someone's personal information on a computer system,
computer ethics would advise that such an action is unethical.
As technology advances, computers
continue to have a greater impact on society. Therefore, computer ethics
promotes the discussion of how much influence computers should have in areas
such as artificial intelligence and human communication. As the world of
computers evolves, computer ethics continues to create ethical standards that
address new issues raised by new technologies.
7.
BIG DATA ETHICS
Another form of computer ethics is
big data ethics. This is a relatively new issue that determines the ethical
usage of big data. Big data ethics, also known as Data Ethics refers to
systemizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct in
relation to data, in particular personal data.
The form of data ranges between
medical to web surfing data, to preferences in shopping, and others.
Unfortunately there is still no unified code of ethics for Big Data and people
feel sometimes unsafe in this regard. Many people were contacted through email
by companies they never knew. Apparently these companies bought their
information from other data collection firms. It is still not known how big
data ethical usage has to be done in the future.
As an example, a problem happened
when Huawei had a data-sharing agreement with Facebook to get information about
millions of its users. This deals appeared to be similar to the ones with
Apple, Samsung, and Amazon. But Huawei, in particular, drew attention as the US
government has claimed that its devices could be used for spying on American
citizens. The reason behind it was that the American government suspected that
Huawei had ties with the Chinese government.
8.
CONCLUSION
In this paper, ethics was introduced
with its changes through history. Then philosophical approach to ethics
education was explained. Also the sociological perspective of ethics was
explained. The importance of ethics for engineers was emphasized and discussed
in teaching. Also the big data ethics issue was introduced.
There are many definitions of
ethics. Each definition depends on its domain. In the ancient period, ethics
was based on the principles of good action and the search for the common
good. Generally, Ethics is understood as
a system of moral principles which affect our ways of living. Ethics are
related with what is good for society and individuals and is described as moral
philosophy. Ethics only makes sense if we put them in the context of human
action understood as responsible, creative and communicative.
Applied Ethics and Codes of conducts
have appeared in the contemporary period, starting from 21st century. One of
the key issues in the engineering education ethics program is the problem of
margins/limits of autonomy that will enable future engineers to act ethically
in accordance with universal ethical principles and the existing codes of
ethics. Computer ethics adds to the above the intellectual property rights, and
also the use of personal data.
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