ENGINEERING as a TEKHNÉ

N. Yasemin YALIM, MD. PhDProfessor of Bioethics

Ankara University School of Medicine

TEKHNÉ

Every kind of production and

performance,

creation, modification,

skill, dexterity, hand-craft,

prophecy

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MYTH of DAIDALOS

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MYTH of HEPHAISTOS

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COMMON NATURE of TEKHNÉ

Leads to extravagance when uncontrolled

Aim to change the very nature; against nature

Its main activity is solving the self-induced problems

Its a source of power. Strengthens power. Establish alliances with power

Can harm its possessor

Creates accountability.

Both helpful and scary; both good and bad; creative and destructive

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PRINCIPLE MORAL VALUES of TEKHNÉ

To have the profeciency on the knowledge of the profession,

Respect for human beings,

Granting the professional limits,

Creativity,

Good will.

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What end are you scientists working for? To my mind, the only purpose of science is to lighten the toil of human existence. If scientists, browbeaten by selfish rulers, confine themselves to

the accumulation of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, science will be

crippled and your new machines will only mean new hardships. Given time,

you may well discover everything there is to discover, but your progress

will be a progression away from humanity. The gulf between you and

humanity may one day be so wide that the response to your exultation about

some new achievement will be a universal outcry of horror.

Galilei Galileo – Berthlot Brecht

ENGINEER’S VIRTUES

Accurate assessment

Consistent judgement

Attention and elaboration for details

Communication skills

Reliability

Accountability

Human-orientedness

Sensitivity towards human needs

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PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES

Comprehensibility (Logos)

Feasibility (Facultas)

Acceptability – Permisibility (Ethos)

Utilitas Firmitas Venustas

Auditing (Nomos)

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OBLIGATIONS of AN ENGINEER

In relation to the engineering knowledge,

In relation to engineering as a profession

In relation to other human beings and her values, as a human being,

In relation to technology,

In relation to the society and social processes as an intellectual,

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