Abstract
This essay explores the issue of the moral rights of engineers. An historical case study is presented in which an accomplished, loyal, senior engineer was apparently wronged as a result of actions taken by his employer in pursuit of legitimate business interests. Belief that the engineer was wronged is justified by showing that what happened to him violated what can validly be termed one of his moral rights as an engineer: the right to reputational fairness. It is then argued that, this right notwithstanding, under certain circumstances it is morally permissible for employers to override it. The paper concludes by identifying two complementary facets of this right, discussing its scope, and indicating what is required of employers obliged to respect it in two types of action contexts.
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Notes and references
Keller A C (1986)Reflections of a Stereo Pioneer. San Francisco Press, San Francisco, chapters 3–7.
New York Times, June 14, 1958, p. 27.
Complaint, Civil Action No. 134–299, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, June 13, 1958, p. 2.
Keller, p. 83.
Ibid., p. 87.
Complaint, p. 7.
Ibid., p. 8.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 13.
Keller A C (1952) A New General Purpose Relay for Telephone Switching Systems.Bell System Technical Journal 31: 1023–1067.
Complaint, p. 16.
Ibid., p. 63.
Ibid., pp. 16 and 67.
Keller,Reflections, pp. 88–89.
Ibid., p. 89.
Keller,Ibid., p. 89.
Brooks J (1976)Telephone: The First Hundred Years. Harper and Row, New York, 187–199.
Ibid., p. 233.
Ibid., pp. 252–253.
Ibid., p. 253.
New York Times, January 25, 1956, pp. 1 and 16.
New York Times, March 28, 1958, p. 15.
New York Times, March 26, 1958, p. 19, March 28, 1958, p. 15, and May 26, 1959, pp. 1 and 18.
New York Times, May 22, 1958, p. 20.
Keller,Reflections, p. 87.
Ibid., p. 88.
Ibid., pp. 88–89.
Ibid., p. 89.
Feinberg J (1973)Social Philosophy. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, p. 84.
For discussion of this issue, see Cranston M (1983) Are There Any Human Rights?Daedalus 112: 1–17.
Keller,Reflections, p. 89.
For this tri-partite distinction see Feinberg,op. cit., pp. 85–88.
Brittain J C (1970) The Introduction of the Loading Coil: George A. Campbell and Michael I. Pupin.Technology and Culture 11: 36–57.
Ibid. p. 55.
Ibid. p. 55, footnote 63.
Ibid., p. 57.
Keller,Reflections, p. 89.
I owe this example to Deborah G. Johnson.
I owe this idea to Stephanie J. Bird.
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Professor of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management and, by courtesy, of Civil Engineering, and in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, School of Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, 94305-2120.
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McGinn, R.E. The engineer’s moral right to reputational fairness. Sci Eng Ethics 1, 217–230 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02628799
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02628799