Empathic Perspective-Taking And Ethical Decision-Making In Engineering Ethics Education

Keywords

Empathy; Engineering education; Engineering ethics; Ethical decision-making; Ethics case study; Perspective-taking

Abstract

Ethical decision-making within engineering has not been broadly studied, although there is a growing body of evidence supporting the view that missteps in ethical decision-making result in changes in organizational culture and in disasters which in turn negatively impact a broad number of stakeholders. The ethical decision-making framework we propose in this paper builds on the notion of empathy as central, although not sufficient in of itself, to the ethical decision-making process. We build on work outside of engineering on the role of empathy in ethical reasoning along with an emerging model of empathy within engineering, drawing on literature in the fields of philosophy, social psychology, neuroscience, and engineering education. We first discuss what empathy is and how empathy informs ethical decision-making in general, with a specific focus on the cognitive form of empathy or what we call empathic perspective-taking. Next we explore methods through which engineers might empathically think and act in ethically challenging situations. Finally, we explore a range of engineering contexts and cases that highlight the role empathy plays in coming to an ethically justifiable decision in specific contexts. We conclude with the suggestion that engineering ethics educators need to develop effective tools for developing and assessing empathic perspective-taking to promote ethical decision-making within the practice of engineering.

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publication Title

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology

Volume

26

Number of Pages

163-179

Document Type

Article; Book Chapter

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45193-0_13

Socpus ID

85101659647 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85101659647

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