Rationality in Technology and in Ethics

Abstract

An initial reflection questions whether rationality is self-justifying. Insofar as it is not self-justifying, humans may conceptualize it as either an instrumental or a substantial good. This implies a need to subordinate technology (and technological rationality) to some vision of the good. Ethical arguments also exist, however, for making ethics itself more technological (or effective). This initial reflection is followed by two case studies: on the search for ethical rationality in professional engineering and on efforts to rationally transform politics into policy. The first takes engineering as the design, construction, and operation of technology and considers how engineering has attempted to incorporate ethics into professional self-understandings. Engineering ethics thus constitutes a specific effort to build a bridge between technological and ethical rationality. In the modern engineering profession as it has developed in the United States, the classic engineering goal of pursuing use and convenience has gone through a trajectory of interpretation from company loyalty to a commitment to public safety, health, and welfare. The second case considers relationships between ethics and policy, with policy understood as an effort to incorporate technological thinking into ethics and politics. The ethics-policy relationship is another instance of bridge building between two rationalities. Although both studies are focused on the American context, it is hypothesized that they have broader implications. Although the present argument is limited in scope, it suggests that ethical rationality ultimately trumps technological rationality, both in practice and in theory.