Training responsible engineers. Phronesis and the role of virtues in teaching engineering ethics

ABSTRACT

Engineering ethics courses aim to improve students’ ethical competence by developing skills such as ethical sensitivity, awareness, analysis and judgement. We present a type of virtue engineering ethics that bridges the gap between academic knowledge (in both ethics and engineering) and its application in engineering practice (particularly design). To clarify why learning about virtues can enrich students’ ethical thinking and competences, we specifically consider the virtue of practical wisdom, phronesis. At the core of the paper, we put forward a theoretical argument for including phronesis in teaching ethics within innovation courses. Training this virtue will help engineering students in dealing with the various uncertainties that will emerge from their future engineering practices. With regard to implementing our proposal, we suggest to integrate practical wisdom in ‘semi-technical’ courses that combine theoretical in-class learning and practical design experiences. We discuss the structure, aims and assessment methods of an integrated product development course that we deem preferable to and potentially more effective than stand-alone engineering ethics classes. An engineering virtue ethics can help engineering students develop a personal reflective way of thinking about concrete courses of action in engineering practice, and may have beneficial ripple effects on their lives, society and the environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Phronesis
• virtues
• engineering ethics
• uncertainty
• integrated product development
• innovation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Interestingly, Bowen (2010) has also explored the notion of the ‘good engineer’ theologically.

2. See https://ethicsandtechnology.eu/news/4tu-ethics-bi-annual-conference-thursday-7th-friday-8th-november-2019-tu-eindhoven/. Consider, for example, the European Commission’s recent Guidelines on Trustworthy AI (2019).

3. Cf. Peterson (2017) for an attempt to formulate mid-level ethical principles.

4. See also: http://www.ipek.kit.edu/3439.php.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie.

Notes on contributors

Giovanni Frigo

Giovanni Frigo is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Philosophy of Engineering, Technology Assessment & Science (PhilETAS) Research Group at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Born and raised in the Italian Alps, he studied at the University of Verona, Italy, and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France. In 2018 he received his PhD in environmental ethics from the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton, TX, USA. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the fundamental links between ethics and energy.

Florian Marthaler

Florian Marthaler currently works at the Institute of Product Engineering (IPEK), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Florian does research in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Automotive Engineering. Their most recent publication is 'Improving R&D Success: Exploring modeling approaches for product profiles'.

Albert Albers

Albert Albers, Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. hc Albert Albers, born in 1957, has been a full professor since 1996 and is today spokesman for the management of the IPEK - Institute for Product Development at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Sascha Ott

Sascha Ott, Dipl.-Ing., Managing Director Institute for Product Development (IPEK), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Managing Director of the KIT Center for Mobility Systems.

Rafaela Hillerbrand

Rafaela Hillerbrand is a Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology and the head of the Philosophy of Engineering, Technology Assessment & Science (PhilETAS) Research Group at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). She holds PhDs in philosophy (2005) and theoretical physics (2008). From 2006 to 2008 she held a position as a senior research fellow at the University of Oxford. Before joining KIT, Dr. Hillerbrand worked as an associate professor at TU Delft and was head of the interdisciplinary research group Ethics for Energy Technology (EET) at the Human Technology Centre (HumTec) at RWTH Aachen University. She serves on expert committees to advise policy and industry on questions concerning the development of sustainable (energy) technologies.