Form No. AC08
Page 1 of 10 Rev.No.00;Rev.Date xx.xx.2015
Jansons Institute of Technology Karumathampatti, Coimbatore – 641 659
COURSE DELIVERY PLAN
Faculty Name : Mr.S.Muthumanickam Staff code : jit0184
Subject Name : Professional ethics in engineering Subject code : GE6075
Academic Year : 2015 – 2016 Semester : VIII
Program & Branch : B.E Mechanical Engineering Section :
Sl. No. Course Objectives (As given in the Syllabus) Mapping with corresponding program objectives
1.
To enable the students to create an awareness on Engineering Ethics and Human Values, to instill Moral and Social Values and Loyalty and to appreciate the rights of others.
Sl. No. Course Outcome (As given in the Syllabus) Mapping with corresponding program outcome
1.
Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to
apply ethics in society, discuss the ethical issues related to
engineering and realize the responsibilities and rights in the
society
Form No. AC08
Page 2 of 10 Rev.No.00;Rev.Date xx.xx.2015
Lecture
Hour
Time
Allocated
(Mins)
Detailed Topics to be covered Actual
Completion
Deviations (with
reasons) if any
HOD Principal
Date Period
UNIT I - HUMAN VALUES Corresponding course objective No’s met: 01
1
50 Introduction
50 Introduction to Subject and Syllabi,
Course Objectives and Needs
2
50 Morals,values and ethics
25
10
15
Ø stages of moral development
Ø Types of values
Ø Types of ethics
3
50 Integrity,Work Ethics,Service learning
15
10
25
Ø Concept of integrity
Ø Principle of work ethics
Ø Learning strategy
4
50 Civic Virtue , Respect for Others
50 Ø Meaning of civic virtue
Ø How to respect for others
5 50 Living peacefully
Form No. AC08
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50 Ø Steps to be followed living peacefully
6
50 Caring, Sharing and Honesty
50 Ø Definition with examples
7 50 Courage, Valuing Time, Co Operation
20
30
Ø Meaning
Ø Importance of Time and Co Operation
8
50 Commitment, Empathy, Self confidence
50
Ø Meaning with examples
9
50 Character, Spirituality, Introduction to Yoga and meditation
20
30
Ø Types of characters
Ø Stress management
UNIT II - ENGINEERING ETHICS Corresponding course objective No’s met: 01
10
50 Senses of Engineering Ethics
20
10
20
Ø Training in preventive ethics
Ø Impediments to responsibility
Ø Senses of expression of engineering ethics
11
50 Variety of Moral Issues
20
20
Ø Micro ethics
Ø Macro ethics
Form No. AC08
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10
Ø Some examples
12
50 Types of inquiry
20
20
10
Ø Normative inquiry
Ø Conceptual inquiry
Ø Factual inquiry
13
50 Moral Dilemmas
15
15
20
Ø Vagueness
Ø Conflicting reasons
Ø Disagreement
14
50 Moral Autonomy
50
Ø Steps to be followed
15
50 Kohlberg’s and Gilligan Theories
30
20
Ø Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development
Ø Gilligan’s stages of cognitive development
16
50 Consensus and Controversy, Models of Professional Roles
20
20
Ø Definition
Ø Roles of profession
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10
Ø Six core qualities
17 50 Theories of right action, Self Interest
30
20
Ø Four ethical theories
Ø Meaning of self interest
18 50 Customs and Religion, Uses of Ethical Theories
25
25
Ø Description
Ø Applications
UNIT III - ENGINEERING AS SOCIAL EXPERIMENTATION Corresponding course objective No’s met: 01
19
50 Engineering as an Experimentation
25
25
Ø Similarities to standard experiments
Ø learning from the past with examples
20
50 Engineers as responsible Experiments
25
25
Ø Contrasts with standard experiments
o Experimental control
o Informed consent
Ø Features of morally responsible engineers in social
experimentation
21
50 Code of Ethics
25
25
Ø Early codes
Ø Newer codes
22
50 A Balanced Outlook on law
50 Ø Description
Form No. AC08
Page 6 of 10 Rev.No.00;Rev.Date xx.xx.2015
UNIT IV - SAFETY,RESPONSIBILITIES AND RIGHTS Corresponding course objective No’s met: 01
23
50 Safety and Risk
25
25
Ø Concept of safety
Ø Types of risk
24 50 Assessment of Safety and Risk
25 25
25
Ø Safety and the engineer
Ø Designing for safety
26
50 Risk Benefit analysis and reducing risk
25
25
Ø Description
Ø Accidents
o Procedural
o Engineer
o Systemic
27 50 Respect for Authority
28 50 Ø Description
29
50 Collective Bargaining
50 Ø Unionism
30 50 Confidentially
31
50
Ø Government organizations with examples
32 50 Conflicts of interest
Form No. AC08
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33
34
50 Ø Solving conflict problems
50 Occupational Crime
35 50
Ø Types of crime
o Employee crime
o White collar crime
o Embezzlement and fraud
o Computer theft and trade secrets
36 50 Professional and employee rights,intellectual property rights (IPR)
and Discrimination.
37
25
25
Ø Engineers professional practice
Ø Confidential and proprietary information
UNIT V - GLOBAL ISSUES Corresponding course objective No’s met: 01
38
50 Multinational Corporations
20
30
Ø Benefits to MNCs
Ø Benefits to developing host countries
39 50 Environmental Ethics
40
10
20
20
Ø Description and Approaches
o Cost-oblivious approach
o cost benefit analysis
Form No. AC08
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41
50 Computer Ethics
20
10
10
10
Ø Computer as the instrument of unethical behavior
Ø Computer as the object of unethical acts
Ø Autonomous computers
Ø computer code of ethics
42
50 Weapons Development
50 Ø Defense work
43
50 Engineers as Managers
50 Ø Responsibilities to employees,customers,clients and general
public
44 50 Consulting Engineers
45 50 Ø Safety inspection
46
50 Engineers as Expert Witness and Advisors,Moral leadership
20
20
10
Ø Public planning
Ø Policy making
Ø Community service
47 50 Code of conduct
48 50 Ø Role of codes
49 50 Corporate Social Responsibility
50 50
Ø Promoting the business interest
Note: where tutorial is included in the syllabus, course plan also to indicate the hours during which tutorials are planned meeting the syllabus
requirements on the total hours of tutorials to be covered.
Form No. AC08
Page 9 of 10 Rev.No.00;Rev.Date xx.xx.2015
Assignments (Minimum of 2 assignments):
Unit and Portions Mode of assignment* Planned Date Actual Date Remarks
1 unit & 2 unit
30 % of portions Home Assignments
2 unit & 3 unit
30 % of portions Home Assignments
4 unit & 5 unit
40 % of portions Home Assignments
Note(*): Mode of Assignment can be individual/ group/ class/ home assignments/ seminar presentations/ mini projects as decided by the individual faculty
etc.
CIA Test Planning:
Test No. Portions to be completed Portions covered in the test Date of test Remarks
1 1 unit & 2 unit - 30 % of portions
2 2 unit & 3 unit - 30 % of portions
3 4 unit & 5 unit - 40 % of portions
Any other method identified by the faculty in order to ensure the achievement of the course objective / outcome:
Method Supporting course objective Course Outcome Method of assessment
Form No. AC08
Page 10 of 10 Rev.No.00;Rev.Date xx.xx.2015
TEXT BOOKS:
1. Mike Martin and Roland Schinzinger, Ethics in Engineering, McGraw-Hill, New York 1996.
2. Govindrajan.M,Natarajan.S,SenthilKumar.V.S, Engineering Ethics, Prentice Hall of India,Newdelhi,2004.
REFERENCES:
1. Charles D.Fledermann, Engineering Ethics, Pearson Education/Prentice hall, New jersey,2004(Indian Reprint now available)
2. Charles E Harris, Michael S. Protchard and Michael J Rabins, Engineering ethics – Concepts and cases, Wadsworth Thompson Leating, United States, 2000(Indian Reprint now available)
3. John R Boatright, Ethics and the Conduct of Business, Pearson Education, New Delhi, 2003.
4. Edmund G seebauer and Robert L Barry, Fundamentals of Ethcis for Scientists and Engineers, Oxford University press, Oxford,2001.
5. K.Krishnaswamy,K.Thangaraj,G.Karmegam, Professional Ethics and Human Values,R.K Publishers,Coimbatore,2006.
Date: Course Faculty HOD Principal
12/4/2015
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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND HUMAN VALUES
• Values are individual in nature.
• Values are comprised of personal concepts of responsibility,
entitlement and respect.
• Values are shaped by personal experience, may change over
the span of a lifetime and may be influenced by lessons
learned.
• Values may vary according to an individual's cultural, ethic
and/or faith-based background.
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“Never change your core values.”
In spite of all the change around you, decide upon what
you will never change: your core values.
Take your time to decide what they are but once you do, do
not compromise on them for any reason.
Integrity is one such value.
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Why study ethics?
• When students enter the professional world,
they will be expected to follow an explicit or
implicit ethical code.
• To responsibly confront moral issues raised by
technological activity
• How to deal with ethical dilemmas in their
professional lives?
• To achieve moral autonomy
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What Is Ethics?
Josephson Institute of Ethics
Ethics refers to standards of conduct . . .
that indicate how one should behave
based on . . .principles of right and
wrong. As a practical matter, ethics is
about how we meet the challenge of
doing the right thing
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MORALS
• Morals are guiding principles that every citizen should
hold.
•Morals are foundational concepts defined on both an
individual and societal level.
• At the most basic level, morals are the knowledge of the
difference between right and wrong.
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Stages of Moral Development
• Pre-conventional Level
Whatever benefits oneself or avoids
punishment
• Conventional Level
Uncritical acceptance of society’s rules
• Post-conventional Level
Moral autonomy
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Ethics and Morality
• Morality: first-order set of beliefs and
practices about how to live a good life.
• Ethics: a second-order, conscious reflection on
the adequacy of our moral beliefs.
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ETICS CONTINUUM
Ethics as an Ongoing Conversation
• World changes continually, and we have to interpret / construe it over and over again.
• We come back to ideas again and again, finding new meaning in them.
• Professional discussions of ethical issues in journals.
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What to Expect from Ethics?
Functions of theory:
• Describe (What?)
• Explain (Why?)
• Prescribe (How?)
• Give strength (Support)
– Open new possibilities and insights
– Wonder
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Ethics and Law
• Law – the authority is external
• Ethics – the authority is internal
• Much of law, but not all, is based in morality
• Sometimes law is unethical
• Much of what is ethical is unaddressed by legal rules
Professional Ethics and Law
• There is a moral duty to obey the law (with
some caveats)
• Professional ethics covers more issues than
the law
• One can be unethical without behaving
illegally
• Rare – ethically must resist the law
Professional Ethics and Law
Be very careful not to embark in an exercise in ethical analysis when there is a clear legal rule in the situation that trumps the entire process of ethical analysis.
Be very careful not to assume that there is a legal rule for every situation. Often the gaps between legal rules require one to switch to an ethical analysis.
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Law vs. Ethics
• LAW
– Creates rules to guide
conduct
– Balances competing
values
– Punishes conduct that
is “illegal” through
formal structures
• ETHICS
– Offers guidance on
conduct
– Addresses situations in
which competing
values clash
– Incentives and
disincentives may be
created by “group”
(formal or informal)
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ETHICS
SOCIETAL NORMATIVE SYSTEMS
LAW MORAL
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Moral Reason versus Moral
Feeling
Morality is strictly a matter of
rational judgment:
Samuel Clarke (1675-1729)
– Since time of Plato: moral truths
exist in a spiritual realm.
– Moral truths like mathematical
truths are eternal.
Samuel Clarke
(1675-1729)
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Moral Reason versus Moral
Feeling
Morality is strictly a matter of
feeling (emotion):
David Hume (1711-1729)
– We have a moral sense David Hume
(1711-1776)
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A Brave New World…
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A Brave New World…
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A Brave New World…
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Consider This: “You and Al”
• You are the manager for Big-Mart, a large discount retailer. You recently fired Al, a sales clerk, after Al punched a customer during a dispute in the store (Al admitted this after the customer complained).
• Sue, manager of your competitor, Mega-Mart, calls you to tell you that Al has applied for a job at Mega-Mart, and to ask you whether Al is “good with customers.”
• WHAT DO YOU DO?
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“An ethical dilemma?”
• Choice to be made
• Implicates competing values, rights, & goals
• Potential harm to decision maker?
• Potential harm to others?
• “Ripple effect:” long-term, far reaching
implications of decision to be made.
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How to Resolve Ethical Dilemmas
• Identify relevant facts
• Identify relevant issue(s)
• Identify primary stakeholders
• Identify possible solutions
• Evaluate each possible solution
• Compare and assess consequences
• Decide on solution
• Take action
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How to Evaluate Solutions: Some Theories
– Stakeholder/utilitarian theory: greatest good to the greatest number
– Rights Theory: Respecting and protecting individual rights to fair and equal treatment, privacy, freedom to advance, etc.
– Justice Theory: fair distribution of benefits and burdens: can harm to individual be justifiable?
– Categorical Imperative: “what if everyone took such action?”
– “Front Page Test:” What if my decision was reported on the front page of the Los Angeles Times?
PERSONAL ETHICS
•Simply put, all individuals are morally autonomous beings
with the power and right to choose their values, but it
does not follow that all choices and all value systems have
an equal claim to be called ethical.
•Actions and beliefs inconsistent with the Six Pillars of
Character - trustworthiness, respect, responsibility,
fairness, caring and citizenship - are simply not ethical.
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PERSONAL ETHICS - everyday examples
• Software piracy
• Expense account padding
• Copying of homework or tests
• Income taxes
• “Borrowing” nuts and bolts, office supplies from employer
• Copying of Videos or CD’s
• Plagiarism
• Using the copy machine at work 12/4/2015 25 Human Values & Prof Ethics
RELIGION AND ETHICS
• The “Golden Rule” is a basic tenet in almost all religions:
Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Confucian, Buddhist, Muslim.
• “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
• “Treat others as you would like them to treat you” (Christian).
• “Hurt not others with that which pains you” (Buddhist)
• “What is hateful to yourself do not do to your fellow men”
(Judaism)
• “No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother
that which he desires for himself” (Islam)
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Moral Autonomy
• Autonomous individuals think for themselves and do not
assume that customs are always right.
• They seek to reason and live by general principles.
• Their motivation is to do what is morally reasonable for
its own sake, maintaining integrity, self-respect, and
respect for others.
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An example:
“One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the penalty… is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963.
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MORALITY AND ETHICS
• Concerns the goodness of voluntary human conduct that affects
the self or other living things
•Morality (Latin mores) usually refers to any aspect of human action
•Ethics (Greek ethos) commonly refers only to professional behavior
• Ethics consist of the application of fundamental moral principles
and reflect our dedication to fair treatment of each other, and of
society as a whole.
• An individual's own values can result in acceptance or rejection of
society's ethical standards because even thoughtfully developed
ethical rules can conflict with individual values
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ASPECTS OF ETHICS
There are two aspects to ethics:
•The first involves the ability to discern right from wrong, good
from evil and propriety from impropriety.
•The second involves the commitment to do what is right, good
and proper. Ethics entails action.
An ALGEBRA course will teach you ALGEBRA.
A HISTORY course will teach you HISTORY.
A MANAGEMENT course will teach you principles of
MANAGEMENT.
But, Will an ETHICS course teach you to be ETHICAL?
Think !
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1
UNIT II - ENGINEERING ETHICS
“Technology can have no legitimacy unless it inflicts no harm”-Adm.H.G. Rickover, father of the US nuclear
navy.
– What does Adm. Rickover mean by this?
– Should engineers avoid technology that has the
potential for inflicting harm on a society or its members?
• Engineers have an ethical and social responsibility to
themselves, their clients and society.
• Practically (although there is much debate about this), engineering ethics is about balancing cost,
schedule, and risk.
2
ENGINEERING ETHICS is:
• the study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals and organizations involved
in engineering and
• the study of related questions about moral
ideals, character, policies and relationships of
people and organizations involved in technological activity.
TRAINING IN PREVENTIVE ETHICS
• Stimulating the moral imagination
• Recognizing ethical issues • Developing analytical skills
• Eliciting a sense of responsibility
• Tolerating disagreement and ambiguity
3
IMPEDIMENTS TO RESPONSIBILITY
• Self-interest.
• Fear.
• Self-deception.
• Ignorance.
• Egocentric tendencies. • Microscopic vision.
• Groupthink.
QUESTIONABLE ENGINEERING PRACTICES
• Trimming – “smoothing of irregularities to make data look
extremely accurate and precise” • Cooking – “retaining only those results that fit the theory
and discarding others”.
• Forging – “inventing some or all of the research data…”
• Plagiarism – misappropriating intellectual property.
• Conflicts of interest (such as accepting gifts.) – actual ,l potential ,– apparent
4
CLEARLY WRONG ENGINEERING PRACTICES
• Lying • Deliberate deception
• Withholding information
• Failing to adequately promote the dissemination of
information
• Failure to seek out the truth • Revealing confidential or proprietary information
• Allowing one‟s judgment to be corrupted.
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SENSES OF EXPRESSION OF ENGG. ETHICS
Ethics is an activity and area of inquiry. It is the activity of understanding moral values, resolving moral
issues and the area of study resulting from that
activity.
When we speak of ethical problems, issues and
controversies, we mean to distinguish them from non moral problems.
Ethics is used to refer to the particular set of beliefs,
attitudes and habits that a person or group displays
concerning moralities.
Ethics and its grammatical variants can be used as synonyms for „morally correct‟.
6
VARIETIES or APPROACHES OF MORAL ISSUES
MICRO-ETHICS emphasizes typically everyday problems that can take on significant proportions in an engineer‟s
life or entire engineering office.
MACRO-ETHICS addresses societal problems that are
often shunted aside and are not addressed until they
unexpectedly resurface on a regional or national scale. MORAL PROBLEMS IN ENGINEERING
(SOME EXAMPLES)
4.1. An inspector discovered faulty construction equipment
and applied a violation tag, preventing its use. The
supervisor, a construction manager viewed the case as a minor abrasion of the safety regulations and ordered the
removal of the tag to speed up the project. When the
inspector objected to this, he was threatened with
disciplinary action.
7
4.2. An electric utility company applied for a permit to
operate a nuclear power plant. The licensing agency was
interested in knowing what emergency measures had
been established for humans safety in case of reactor
malfunctioning. The utility engineers described the alarm
system and arrangements with local hospitals for
treatment. They did not emphasize that this measures
applied to plant personnel only and that they had no plans
for the surrounding population. When enquired about their
omission, they said it was not their responsibility.
8
4.3. A chemical plant dumped wastes in a landfill.
Hazardous substances found their way into the
underground water table. The plant‟s engineers were
aware of the situation but did not change the method of
disposal because their competitors did it the same cheap
way, and no law explicitly forbade the practice.
4.4. Electronics Company ABC geared up for production
of its own version of a popular new item. The product was
not yet ready for sale, but even so, pictures and impressive specifications appeared in advertisements.
Prospective customers were led to believe that it was
available off the shelf and were drawn away from
competing lines.
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TYPES OF INQUIRIES
1. NORMATIVE INQUIRY These are about „what ought to be‟ and „what is
good‟. These questions identify and also justify the
morally desirable norms or standards.
Some of the questions are:
A. How far engineers are obligated to protect public safety in given situations?
B. When should engineers start whistle blowing on
dangerous practices of their employers?
C. Whose values are primary in taking a moral
decision, employee, public or govt? D. Why are engineers obligated to protect public
safety?
E. When is govt justified in interfering on such issues
and why? 10
2. CONCEPTUAL INQUIRY:
These questions should lead to clarifications on
concepts, principles and issues in ethics. Examples
are:
A) What is „SAFETY‟ and how is it related to „RISK‟
B) „Protect the safety, health and welfare of public‟-
What does this statement mean?
C) What is a bribe?
D) What is a „profession‟ and who are
„professionals‟?
11
3. FACTUAL (DESCRIPTIVE) INQUIRIES
These are inquiries used to uncover information using
scientific techniques. These inquiries get to information
about business realities, history of engineering profession,
procedures used in assessment of risks and engineers
psychology.
Why study ENGINEERING ETHICS ENGINEERING
ETHICS is a means to increase the ability of concerned
engineers, managers, citizens and others to responsibly
confront moral issues raised by technological activities. 12
MORAL DILEMMMA
There are three types of complexities. VAGUENESS: This complexity arises due to the fact
that it is not clear to individuals as to which moral
considerations or principles apply to their situation.
CONFLICTING REASONS: Even when it is perfectly clear as to which moral principle is applicable to one‟s
situation, there could develop a situation where in two or
more clearly applicable moral principles come into
conflict.
DISAGREEMENT: Individuals and groups may
disagree how to interpret, apply and balance moral
reasons in particular situations.
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Steps in confronting MORAL DILEMMAS:
i) Identify the relevant moral factors and reasons. ii) Gather all available facts that are pertinent to the
moral factors involved.
iii) Rank the moral considerations in the order of their
importance as they apply to the situation.
iv) Consider alternative course of action, tracing the full implications of each, as ways of solving dilemma.
v) Talk with colleagues, seeking the suggestions and
perspectives of the dilemma.
vi) Arrive at a carefully reasoned judgment by weighing
all the relevant moral factors and reasons in light of facts.
All the above steps are distinct, even though they are
inter-related and can often be taken jointly
14
MORAL AUTONOMY
• This is viewed as the skill and habit of thinking rationally about ethical issues on the basis of moral concerns
independently or by self-determination.
• Autonomous individuals think for themselves and do not
assume that customs are always right.
• They seek to reason and live by general principles. • Their motivation is to do what is morally reasonable for
its own sake, maintaining integrity, self-respect, and
respect for others.
“One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly,
lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that
conscience tells him is unjust and willingly accepts the
penalty… is in reality expressing the highest respect for
the law.” Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Letter from a
Birmingham Jail, 1963.
15