Can Ethics Be Taught?

It is arguable that the instinct for survival in animal species has evolved due to the evolutionary elimination of those individuals who did not have enough inclination nor desire to cluster in a team. Thus, the roots of ethical conduct in its many facets in today’s world, may be sought in this very primeval concern for the society that enabled communities, rather than individuals, to survive in an antagonistic world. It is also arguable that modern society, which has evolved from such humble considerations, has long ago lost the sight of such pragmatic beginnings. Today, the more sophisticated reflection of this basic evolutionary trait is found in voluntary observation of a particular code of ethics in a professional environment. However, this time it is not so much the question of physical survival which is at stake, as are the moral status of the profession and the credibility of its principals in a complex social setting. It is claimed that there is a correlation between being an ethical professional and an ethical citizen, and that therefore there is nothing new that can be taught in a classroom of undergraduate engineers. It is the aim of this paper critically to explore this assertion in the context of classroom delivery and comment on students’ perceptions of the subject taught in the University of Western Sydney first year of Engineering.