Hudson County Community College Engineering philosophy Paper
Ethics studies questions like “What should I do? What are my responsibilities? What’s for the best?” Our values determine how we answer these questions, and different sets of values might give rise to distinct answers to these questions. By ‘values’, I mean the full range of concerns that you might have, both implicitly and explicitly held, including preferences, goals, assumptions, traditions, and politics, but also theories about how the world works and methods for evaluating its performance. In simplest terms: your values are all the things that matter to you.
In Lesson 1 we talked about how different value systems might influence engineering projects. In Lesson 2 I want to talk about the scope of ethical consideration. By “scope”, I mean to ask which issues and perspectives that are included in our discussions of values, and which are excluded. For your second post, consider any of the following questions: How broad is the scope of ethical consideration, especially concerning engineering projects? What values and perspectives should engineers consider when thinking about the ethical dimensions of his or her work? Which values or perspectives (if any) should be ignored? Are all values the same, or do some values and perspectives matter more than others? Whose values and perspectives matter more? Should they matter more? What impact does the scope of ethical consideration have on the engineering projects we build? Use the material below to help formulate your response.