Training Engineers in Moral Imagination for Global Contexts

Abstract

What challenges do students face in preparing to practice responsible engineering in a global world? How can students be brought to recognize and avoid pitfalls like paternalism? One answer to this question comes from an unlikely source. While satirizing telescopic philanthropy, Charles Dickens lays down the conditions that a curriculum in global engineering ethics must address. One must “adapt [one’s] mind to those very differently situated,” address other cultures “from suitable points of view,” cultivate a “delicate knowledge of the heart,” and realize that “good intentions alone” are not enough. This essay situates teaching engineering ethics in a global context by outlining the pitfalls students must learn to avoid, putting forward moral imagination as a means to recognize and work around these pitfalls, and showing how moral imagination informs the different modes of engineering moral expertise. This paper will conclude with three learning modules that address some of the pedagogical challenges posed by moral imagination.