Ethical Responsibility in Engineering: A Fundamentation and Proposition of a Pedagogic Methodology

 The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines engineering as: “The profesional art of applying science for the optimum conversion of natural resources for mankind.” If we accept this definition we can see that the enphasis is on scientific knowledge and knowing how to apply it. Engineering is a science, which according to Ortega [23], on the basis of scientific knowledge imposes reforms on nature to adapt it for the well being of humanity. In our opinion this means that following the maxim “knowledge is obligation”, the knowledge and power of the engineer must be matched by their sense of responsibility and because of this a consciousness of ethical responsability is intrinsic to the development of an authentic practising profesional in engineering. The fundamental objective of this presentation is to promote arguments in favour of the development and introduction of ethics in technical studies in universities. We will start with a short presentation of the changes in the social context that increase the risk and the responsability of the work of engineers. We will define the concept of ethical responsability, justify its preeminence over others such as juridicial responsability, and we will promote the vital necessity of this concept of responsability in the field of science and technology [19]. Thirdly we will present a proposition of a pedagogic methodology in which the students internalize the knowledge and develope the skills and values necessary for the responsible practice of profesional engineering [32]. Fourthly we will present the teaching experience of the subject applied ethics in the Polytechnic University of Valencia in the last years. Here we will speak about the limitations and the posibilities of its development, and we will give some provisional conclusions about its impact on the students. We will conclude focusing on the challenges ahead and work needing our urgent attention. Index Terms  Ethics, Professional Accountabilit, Responsability.