Syllabus for Engineering Ethics

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing basic knowledge of ethics for engineers in different types of work roles and prepare the engineer for potential ethical dilemmas in their future profession. Special emphasis is placed on ethics in technology-intensive activities.

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• describe theories and tools in the field of ethics, both traditional moral philosophy and more modern theories, as well as the connections between ethics and other fields of knowledge,
• identify ethical problems and dilemmas in technological and organisational contexts,
• analyse situations with the studied ethical theory.

Content

The course consists of three integrated components: moral philosophy, case studies and industry perspectives, as well as the code of conduct for engineers. Moral Philosophy: basic ethical theories such as utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics, but also more modern theories such as discourse ethics and feminist ethics. Case Study: Analysis of examples of situations which engineers may encounter in their professional life with the help of the studied ethical theory. Industry Perspective: discussion with professionally active engineers on ethical issues they have encountered during their career.

Instruction

Lectures and seminars.

Assessment

Assignments and active participation in seminars.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.