Responsible Engineering: The Importance of Character and Imagination

Science and Engineering Ethics

Volumn 7, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 391-402

  Pritchard, Michael S ^a  

^a WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Character; Counterfactuals; Dedicate; Dispositions; Imagination; Luck; Public safety; Readiness; Responsible engineering; Wrongdoing

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CHARACTER; ENGINEERING; ETHICS; HUMAN; IMAGINATION; SAFETY; STANDARD;

CHARACTER; ENGINEERING; ETHICS; HUMANS; IMAGINATION; SAFETY;

EID: 0035404617     PISSN: 13533452     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11948-001-0061-3     Document Type: Article

References (19)

1. William F. May (1988) Professional Virtue and Self-Regulation, in: Callahan, Joan (ed.) Ethical Issues in Professional Life, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA, p. 408.
2. Ibid.
3. Waterson, Bill (1990) Calvin and Hobbes.
4. For a discussion of some of the results of this project, see Michael S. Pritchard (1988) Professional Responsibility: Focusing on the Exemplary, Science and Engineering Ethics 4 (2): 215-233. This was supported by National Science Foundation Grant #SBR-930257.
5. My account is based on Joseph Morgenstern's excellent, "The Fifty-Nine Story Crisis," The New Yorker, May 29, 1995.
6. Ibid., p. 48.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Waterson, Bill (Dec. 23, 1990) Calvin and Hobbes.
10. Many non-engineers were involved, as well: Citicorp bank officials, insurance agents, New York police, the mayor of New York, and others involved in developing a contingency plan for evacuation of the area if necessary. All of this was done without the public's knowledge. Some might question this "ethics of silence," but the full story of how all these efforts were successful coordinated is no doubt fascinating in itself.
11. Martin, M. (2000) Meaningful Work: Rethinking Professional Ethics, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA, p. 173.
12. Ibid. Social psychologist Irving Janis's important work on group dynamics seems to focus primarily on social explanations of wrongdoing. However, his more positive account of how groups can resist the shortcomings of "groupthink" seems to presuppose that certain qualities of character on the part of individual members of groups can make a crucial difference (e.g., the commitment to developing and sustaining independent, critical judgment even in the face of pressure to go along with others, and the courage to speak up in opposition to apparent consensus). See Janis, Irving (1982) Groupthink, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, Boston, USA.
13. Ibid. Social psychologist Irving Janis's important work on group dynamics seems to focus primarily on social explanations of wrongdoing. However, his more positive account of how groups can resist the shortcomings of "groupthink" seems to presuppose that certain qualities of character on the part of individual members of groups can make a crucial difference (e.g., the commitment to developing and sustaining independent, critical judgment even in the face of pressure to go along with others, and the courage to speak up in opposition to apparent consensus). See Janis, Irving (1982) Groupthink, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, Boston, USA.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. For a discussion of the exercise of imagination in addressing Z-Corp's problems, see Michael Pritchard and Mark Holtzapple's (1997) Responsible Engineering: Gilbane Gold Revisited, Science and Engineering Ethics 3 (2): 217-230.
17. Gilbane Gold (1989), National Society for Professional Engineers, 1420 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.
18. For 3M's own account of its Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program, see its website at http:/www.mmm.com/profile/envt/3p.html.
19. ABET is the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. For the precise wording of ABET 2000 requirements, see: http://www.abet.org/EAC/each2000.html.