Necessary Knowledge for Social Responsibility of Scientists and Engineers

There exists well-founded knowledge that is necessary for social responsibility of scientists and engineers. This knowledge should be transferred in the science and engineering curricula as otherwise it will remain unknown to (future) scientists and engineers. Examples of such necessary knowledge are described about two selected subjects, namely: (1) the factual (“positive”) and normative properties of procedures for collective (political) decision-making; and (2) the foundations and functioning of the legal system. Although valuable sources for the knowledge referred to under (1) do exist, this knowledge is currently not included in the mainstream science and engineering curricula. An analysis of two textbooks on engineering ethics reveals that these textbooks are inadequate as sources of knowledge on the two subjects identified in this paper. It is argued that the effective transfer of the “necessary knowledge for social responsibility” identified in this paper requires more study time than is currently available for such subjects in the “hard” science and engineering curricula. It is concluded that the question, how much study time should be devoted to “nontechnical” subjects such as the ones identified in this paper, has not been satisfactorily settled and should be opened for discussion. Index Terms – Ethical and social responsibility, Foundation and functioning of law, Procedures for collective decisionmaking, Science and engineering curricula.