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The complex challenges of ethical choices by engineers in public service

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Abstract

This paper proposes that engineers in public service are confronted with unavoidable complexity in their ethical considerations. The complexity begins with interactions among venues of ethical choices. Engineers must make ethical choices simultaneously at the individual, professional, organizational and societal levels. These ethical domains often conflict. The complexity also stems from situations in which physical properties may remain stable, but important social, economic, institutional and political conditions can change substantially. The paper proposes that the reflective learning approach of pragmatism can help with these challenging situations. This approach depends upon employing Dewey’s five stage process of inquiry to engage the ethical complexity inherent in the practice of engineering in the public service.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Mississippi State University, PO Box PC, 39762, Mississippi State, MS, USA

    Gerald Andrews Emison

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  1. Gerald Andrews Emison
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Correspondence to Gerald Andrews Emison.

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Emison, G.A. The complex challenges of ethical choices by engineers in public service. SCI ENG ETHICS 12, 233–244 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-006-0023-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-006-0023-x

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