Abstract
In this editorial contribution, two issues relevant to the question, what should be at the top of the research agenda for ethics and technology, are identified and discussed. Firstly: can, and do, engineers make a difference to the degree to which technology leads to morally desirable outcomes? What role does professional autonomy play here, and what are its limits? And secondly, what should be the scope of engineers’ responsibility; that is to say, on which issues are they, as engineers, morally obliged to reflect? The research agendas proposed by the authors contributing to this special section, implicitly, give different answers to these questions. We suggest that an explicit discussion of these issues would greatly help in constructing a common research agenda.
References
Davis, M. (2001) The Professional Approach to Engineering Ethics: Five Research Questions, Science and Engineering Ethics 7: 379–390.
Davis, M. (1998) Thinking Like an Engineer. Studies in the Ethics of a Profession. Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford
Pritchard, M. (2001) Responsible Engineering: The Importance of Character and Imagination, Science and Engineering Ethics 7: 391–402.
Herket, J.R. (2001) Future Directions in Engineering Ethics Research: Microethics, Macroethics and the Role of Professional Societies, Science and Engineering Ethics 7: 403–414.
Grunwald, A. (2000) Against Over-Estimating the Role of Ethics in Technology. Science and Engineering Ethics 6: 181–196.
Grunwald, A. (2001) The Application of Ethics to Engineering and the Engineers’s Moral Responsibility: Perspectives for a Research Agenda, Science and Engineering Ethics 7: 415–428.
Habermas, J. (1996) Between Facts and Norms. Contributions to a discourse theory on law and democracy, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.
Poel, I.R. van de (2001) Investigating Ethical Issues in Engineering Design, Science and Engineering Ethics 7: 429–446.
Unger, S.H. (1994) (2nd edition) Controlling Technology: Ethics and the Responsible Engineer. John Wiley, New York.
Zandvoort H. et al (2000) Ethics in the Engineering Curricula: Topics, Trends and Challenges for the Future. European Journal of Engineering Education 25 no. 4: 291–302
Williams, B. (1995) Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts).
Didier C. (2000) Engineering Ethics at the Catholic University of Lille (France): Research and Teaching in a European Context. European Journal of Engineering Education 25 no. 4: 325–336
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brumsen, M., van de Poel, I. A special section on research in engineering ethics towards a research programme for ethics and technology. SCI ENG ETHICS 7, 365–378 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-001-0059-x
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-001-0059-x