From Engineering Ethics to Engineering Politics

Abstract

Prior to the 1950s, engineering ethics emerged solely within the engineering profession itself. However, after World War II, the first efforts of general philosophical reflection on technology among engineers in Germany gave rise to early engagements between engineers and philosophers on this theme. Then in the 1970s in the United States a second engagement took place between engineers and philosophers, this time stimulated more by philosophers than by engineers. With the separate contributions in the two countries, engineering ethics began to become an interest in many other countries, especially influenced by the American approach, which is much less deeply philosophical than that which emerged in Germany. Outside Germany and the United States, the three places where discussions of engineering ethics most involve philosophers are Denmark, the Netherlands, and China. Finally, as far as the future of this topic is concerned, engineering ethics would benefit from expanding appreciation of the political aspects of engineering, echoing philosophical connections between ethics and political philosophy found in Aristotle.