History of the Engineering Ethics Study Funded by NSF

Abstract

The idea for the research project described in the proposal that follows was an outgrowth of research that my colleague Robert Baum and I did for an anthology we edited entitled Ethical Problems in Engineering (Troy, 1978). In gathering materials for that volume, it became evident that a great deal of the literature in the field of engineering ethics focused almost exclusively on the duties engineers have to employers, the public, and their profession, or with examining case histories describing engineers’ failures to fulfill these duties adequately. This was particularly evident in the area of how engineering activities impact on public safety, where understandably there is the greatest concern. What was missing were the details of how engineers succeeded in assuring that their work exhibited a paramount concern for public safety.