Our point of departure will be practical ethical problems. These will vary each time the course is given but classical examples include conflicts between safety and economy or function, environmental effects of technology, conflicts between the engineer’s professionalism and his/her loyalty to the employer, work with morally dubious technologies, insider problems and industrial espionage, integrity issues related to IT, etc. In order to analyse these issues we will use tools from moral philosophy (ethics). We will acquaint ourselves with important theories from moral philosophy such as utilitarianism and deontological ethics, as well as with useful notions, e.g., moral dilemmas.
An important part of this course is an individually written essay under supervision. This work amounts to a specialisation in an ethical problem that can be selected in accordance with the student’s previous experiences and studies. The main aim of this work is the analysis, from an ethical perspective, of technology relevant to the student’s studies. In order to be able to apply the ethical theories and the tools from the course, substantial familiarity with the relevant technical aspects is required.