"While this book begins with the analysis of engineering as a profession, it concentrates on a question that the last two decades seem to have made critical: Is engineering one global profession (like medicine) or many national or regional professions (like law)? While science and technology studies (STS) have increasingly taken an "empirical turn", much of STS research is unclear enough about the professional responsibility of engineers that STS still tends to avoid the subject, leaving engineering ethics without the empirical research needed to teach it as a global profession. The philosophy of technology has tended to do the same. This book's intervention is to improve the way STS, as well as the philosophy of technology, approaches the study of engineering. This is work in the philosophy of engineering and the attempt to understand engineering as a reasonable undertaking"--.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Permissions
• Preface
  • 1. Philosophy of Engineering Today
  • 2. Founding the Philosophy of Engineering
  • 3. Contents of this Book
  • 4. Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
• Part I: Distinguishing Engineering from Other Professions
• Chapter 1: Profession
  • 1. Occupation, Discipline, and Profession
  • 2. Philosophical Approaches
  • 3. The Socratic Conception Explained
  • 4. Is There a Profession There?
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 2: Engineering—From Chicago to Shantou
  • 1. The Problem
  • 2. The American Engineer at Home
  • 3. The Engineer in Someone Else’s Home
  • 4. The Chinese Engineer at Home
  • 5. Definition?
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 3: Why Architects Are Not Engineers
  • 1. Introduction
  • 3. Some Differences between Architects and Engineers Today
  • 4. History’s Contribution to these Differences
  • 5. Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • 
• Chapter 4: Distinguishing Chemists from Engineers
  • 1. Some Differences between Chemists and Engineers
  • 2. Ethics in General
  • 3. Professional Ethics
  • 4. Chemistry and Engineering: Two Professions
  • 5. Back to Eaton
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 5: Will Software Engineering Ever Be Engineering?
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 6: Engineering and Business Management: The Odd Couple
  • 1. The Changing Relation
  • 2. Business Ethics versus Engineering Ethics
  • 3. Importance of Disagreement between Engineers and Managers
  • 4. A Proposal
  • Notes
  • References
• Part II: The Study of Engineering as a Profession
• Chapter 7: Methodological Problems in the Study of Engineering
  • 1. Function
  • 2. Origin of this Approach
  • 3. Discipline
  • 4. Occupation and Profession
  • 5. Profession and Codes of Engineering Ethics
  • 6. Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 8: Profession as a Lens for Studying Technology
  • 1. Profession and Some Related Concepts
  • 2. Relation of Profession to Ethics of Technology
  • 3. Advantages for Study of Technology
  • 4. Advice on Using the Lens of Profession
  • Notes
  • References
• Part III: Professional Responsibility of Engineers
• Chapter 9: “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Social Forces”: Constructing the Professional Responsibility of Engineers
  • 1. Preliminary Caveats
  • 2. Engineers’ Responsibility for What They Do
  • 3. The Rationality of Taking Responsibility
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 10: Engineering Ethics, Individuals, and Organizations
  • 1. Culture, Organization, and Law
  • 2. Professions, Organizations, and Legislation
  • 3. A Possible Explanation of the Question
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 11: “Social Responsibility” and “Social Justice” for Engineers?
  • 1. Origin of Terms
  • 2. Determining Engineers’ Responsibilities
  • 3. Relation to Social Justice and Social Responsibilities
  • 4. Conclusion: Engineers as Revolutionaries?
  • Note
  • References
• Chapter 12: Macro-, Micro-, and Meso-Ethics
  • 1. Micro, Macro, and the Great in-Between
  • 2. Engineering Ethics as Meso-Ethics
  • 3. Another Objection
  • 4. Is Macro-Ethics Ethics?
  • 5. Concluding Remarks
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 13: Doing “the Minimum”
  • 1. The Minimum
  • 2. Contract and Reasonable Care
  • 3. The Blame Game
  • Note
  • References
• Chapter 14: Re-inventing the Wheel: “Global Engineering Ethics”
  • 1. Culture
  • 2. Culture and Globalism
  • 3. A Ulysses Contract
  • 4. Global Standards
  • 5. Curriculum
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 15: In Praise of Emotion in Engineering
  • 1. Spock as Engineer
  • 2. Analyzing Emotion
  • 3. The Emotional Life of a Good Engineer
  • 4. Emotions and Engineering Ethics
  • 5. Pedagogical Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
• Part IV: Engineering’s Globalism
• Chapter 16: The Whistle Not Blown: WV, Diesels, and Engineers
  • 1. The Scandal Begins
  • 2. The “Facts”
  • 3. The Engineer as Employee
  • 4. The Engineer as Member of a Profession
  • 5. Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 17: Three Nuclear Disasters and a Hurricane: Reflections on Engineering Ethics
  • 1. Caveats
  • 2. Why Compare these Four Disasters?
  • 3. Three Mile Island
  • 4. Chernobyl
  • 5. Fukushima
  • 6. Katrina
  • 7. Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 18: Ethical Issues in the Global Arms Industry: A Role for Engineers
  • 1. Dilemmas and Defense
  • 2. Ethical Issues
  • 3. Engineers in the Global Arms Industry
  • 4. How Engineers Might Help with Some Ethical Issues
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 19: Temporal Limits of Engineers’ Planning
  • The Question
  • Refining the Question
  • How Engineers as Such Plan
  • The Useful Life of an Artifact (or Process)
  • How Far into the Future Can Engineers as Such Plan?
  • How Far into the Future Should Engineers as Such Plan
  • Planning in General
  • Concluding Remarks
  • Notes
  • References
• Chapter 20: Epilogue: A Research Agenda
  • 1. Study of Engineering: Four Kinds
  • 2. Empirical Research: the Fourth Sense of “Study”
  • 3. Philosophers Doing Empirical Research
  • 4. Three Empirical Studies of Engineering
  • 5. Conclusions: A Research Agenda
  • References
• Index