1. Major Ethics Case Studies
Focus on the major technological disasters and catastrophes in engineering
Module 4 in the “Teaching Engineering Ethics” Series

2. Outline of Material Major Ethical Impact = Macro-ethics
Micro-ethics (the individual and the situation)
Macro-ethics (systemic issues)
Ethics as a “Design Problem”
Engineer as a Moral Agent
Analogies: Design and Ethics Decisions
Case: The Space Shuttle Challenger

3. Macro-Ethical Issues Safety, Loss of Life, Catastrophic Failures
Typically Newsworthy Items
The Space Shuttle Challenger*
Bhopal—Union Carbide*
The Ford Pinto
Firestone and Ford Explorer tires
Three Mile Island / Chernobyl Nuclear Reactors
Kansas City Hyatt Suspended Walkway
Boston Molasses Tank Accident*
Indicative of systemic problems (beyond simple engineering and day-to-day ethics)
The following cases are documented in the Instructor Binder as well as online:
The Space Shuttle Challenger* Extensive coverage in instructor binder (and online)
Bhopal—Union Carbide* Coverage in instructor binder (and online)
The Ford Pinto* Coverage in instructor binder, PowerPoint (and online)
Firestone and Ford Explorer tires
Three Mile Island / Chernobyl Nuclear Reactors* Coverage in instructor binder (and online)
Kansas City Hyatt Suspended Walkway* Extensive coverage in instructor binder, PowerPoint (and online)
Boston Molasses Tank Accident*Extensive coverage in instructor binder, PowerPoint (and online)

4. Ethics as a Design Problem
The engineer as a moral agent
Moral problems
…are practical problems (they demand a response)
…are not multiple-choice problems
Design Process
Recognize and Evaluate the Problem
Devise solutions
Evaluate solutions
Choose from the alternatives
The “devise solutions” phase is typically shortchanged in the ethics judgment process or artificially constrained to a limited set of alternatives

5. Ethics as a Design Problem
How ethics “sound bites” oversimplify the ethical reasoning process:
“Do the right thing”
Portrays the problem as having an exclusive solution set
“Should [the agent] do X or Y”
Portrays the problem as a binary multiple-choice solution set with no latitude for creating alternatives
Exploits a limited “win-lose” or “lose-win” paradigm
“There are no right or wrong answers”
Indicative of a “moral relativism” philosophy or simply that there is no uniquely correct solution
In reality, there can be solutions that are better than others and which can be prioritized
Also, solutions can each comprise a unique and special advantage

6. Ethics as a Design Problem
What solutions sets exist for a given set of specifications or ethical constraints?
Solution Set Population
Probability
Wrong Solutions
Always
No Solution
Possible
One Single Exclusive and Acceptable Solution
Unlikely
Multiple Solutions: All Equally Acceptable
Multiple Solutions: Orthogonal Acceptability
Very Likely

7. Ethics as a Design Problem
Lessons from design problems:
Consider the Uncertainties in the Situation
Ambiguities often underemphasized in professional ethics
Decisions to be made:
Whether to gather additional evidence
How to address the issues with others
How to elicit support for the moral concern
Determining possible solutions is separate from defining the problem and may require more information
Time Pressure is real and demands searching for multiple alternative solutions in parallel
The ethical situation may be dynamically changing; decisions should not be made on an old “snapshot” of the situation