ENGINEERING ETHICS

MORALS AND
ENGINEERING
Know something about
ethics
Ethics is the study of the characteristics of morals,
and involves the moral choices made by individuals
as they interact with other persons.

Engineers need to be aware of ethics as they make

choices during their professional practice of
engineering.

Engineering ethics will be defined as the rules and

standards governing the conduct of engineers in their
roles as professionals
 The origins of ethics or Morality

The terms ethic or ethical came from a

Greek word ethos
Moral also came from Latin word
mores
Originally meant customs, practice,
especially those belonging to some
group as distinguished from another.
 DEFINITION OF ETHICS

Ethics is the moral values.

It also can be defined as disposition or character
Ethics speaks to how we ought to live, that is, how we
ought
to treat others and how we ought to manage our own
lives.
Ethics provides understandings which help compel us
to act
with intelligence, consideration and understanding.
Ethics is the study of morals
Overall , Morality or ethics can be defined as right or
wrong,
good or bad.

 Moral philosophy.

Determining rights and wrongs, selecting actions to

achieve good results, evaluating motives.
The achievement of wisdom, choosing actions that are
benefical and acceptable long term; or sustainable. This
implies a society focus.
 Ethics, Morals, and the Law
Classification of Actions:
Morals
Unethical
Principles of right
and wrong Ethical
Ethics
A set of moral
Legal Illegal
principles guiding
behavior and
action
Laws
Binding codes of
conduct; formally Unethical Ethical but
recognized and but Legal Illegal
enforced
Company Policies
 Function of ethics

Hence from these definitions, we may

understand ethics as a theoretical
background of morals concerned more
about:
Providing guidance for moral decisions and
ethical judgments.
Analyzing and evaluating rational usage of
moral conducts.
Understanding the meaning of moral values.
 Kantian Moral Theory

According to Kantian,

Two types of acts Act from inclination and

Act from a sense of duty or obligation
A man is acting morally only when he
holds back his preference and obey the
command of duty.
A moral action is that which is done from
a respect for duty and a moral person is
he who acts not from his own preference
 Kantian Moral Theory
According to Kantian,

Human beings should be treated not

simply as means to ones own ends, but
also as ends in themselves.
Making the right decisions for the right
reasons being the ultimate goal.
The principles ought to be universalizable;
that is, if everyone adopted the principle,
it should not be self-defeating.
 ISLAMIC ETHICS

Islam teaches us:

a code of behavior, and conservation of social

values and gives us a meaning for our

existence.
It helps in toleration and developing adaptive

capacities for stressful events of life.

It gives us a sense of self-respect and teaches

us about the virtues of family life and a

cohesive society with a sense of brotherhood.

 Islamic Ethics (continue)

Islamic scholars say: Allhu tal created

three things in Humans:
wisdom (aql),
spiritual heart (qalb), and
Nafs.
Wisdom and nafs are located in our brain and
the spiritual heart is found over the biological
heart, which is in the left side of our chest.
Wisdom tries to understand Islamic knowledge.
It understands Islamic knowledge and its good
and useful as well as evil and harmful
variations or portions.
 Islamic Ethics (Continue )

The spiritual heart decides to do these

good things. It uses the action nerves,
which come out of the brain and go to
the organs, to give orders to the organs
so that they carry out these goodthings.

Assimilation of the desire of doing good

or evil things into the spiritual heart is
called ethics or morals (akhlq).
 Concept of Morality in
Islam
Moral Act
A moral act must be the expression of a

formed and stable character. No human being

can claim to have an absolutely formed
character unless he is especially trained.
These require not only moral education but

also an ideal should to be followed.

We can get from Islam which provides such

education in the form of the Quran and an

ideal in the life of Prophet. These are moral
acts for us
 Concept of Morality in
Islam
Moral Conduct
The Quran is the code of moral conduct.
Characters building.
Iman,

Salat,

Saum ,

Zakat and

Hajj.
END