ENGRG 3600 - Ethical Issues in Engineering Practice

(crosslisted) STS 3601

Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading (no audit).

Prerequisite: completion of one First-Year Writing Seminar (FWS). Enrollment limited to: sophomores, juniors and seniors.

T. S. Goetze.

This course surveys a range of ethical issues that arise in professional engineering, and provides discussion-based practice in analyzing and addressing them. Using normative frameworks from professional codes, philosophical ethics, value-sensitive design, feminist theory, and science & technology studies, the course engages with a series of historical, current, and fictional case studies. Specific topics to be discussed may include: privacy, consumer rights, smart cities, geoengineering, artificial intelligence, and cloning. Instruction is through a mix of lectures and discussions. Evaluation is by weekly quizzes, regular written assignments leading to a research paper, and a final exam; there will be no formal prelims.

Outcome 1: Be familiar with and able to identify a range of ethical and social issues in professional and academic engineering practice.

Outcome 2: Understand some of the major normative theories in philosophy, science and technology studies, feminist theory, and other approaches.

Outcome 3: Be able to apply normative theories to specific cases in engineering, from a variety of different stakeholder perspectives, including the perspectives of historically marginalized social groups.

Outcome 4: Be able to analyze, evaluate, and produce normative arguments using evidence and techniques of philosophical argument.

Outcome 5: Have improved their research skills and written communication skills, particularly in argumentative writing.