Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The engineer learns both subject matter (i.e., content) and processes (i.e., rules). The scientific and
practical content is what each engineer has learned about the world. Physical facts and information
about matter and energy and the relationships between them are the content of engineering. Rules
are the sets of instructions that the collective profession of engineering has written (literally and
figuratively) over time that tells us how to do things.
25
Bioethics
Question:
Can
intuition
be
a
reliable
guide
to
ethical
decision
making?
The content and rules accumulated from the individual engineer's academic experience and
professional practice leads to intuition. Thus, intuition can be explained as the lack of awareness
of why or how professional judgments have come to be. Kenneth Hammond, a psychologist who
has investigated intuitive processes, says that intuition is in fact:
[A] cognitive process that somehow produces an answer, solution, or idea without the use of a
conscious, logically defensible step-by-step process.
26
Therefore, intuition is an example of something that we know occurs, and probably quite frequently,
but it is not deliberative. Nor can intuition be explained explicitly after it occurs. It can be argued
that intuition, then, is really a collective memory of the many deductive and inductive lessons
learned (content), using a system to pull these together, sort out differences, synthesize, analyze,
and come to conclusions (rules). The more one practices, the more content that is gathered and
the more refined and tested the rules become.
Creativity
The right solution in one instance may be downright dangerous in another. Or as the National
Academy of Engineering puts it:
Engineering is a profoundly creative process.
27
However, engineers must always design solutions to problems adhering to the relevant constraints
and within the tolerances called for by the problem at hand. When it comes to human enhancement
and other bioethical issues, this may be a balance between natural and artificial systems. This
balance depends on data from many sources. Good data make for reliable information. Reliable
information adds to scientific and societal knowledge. Knowledge, with time and experience, leads
to wisdom.
Building a structure such as a hazardous waste treatment facility or a device such as a drug
delivery mechanism is part of the solution to an engineering problem. In other situations, the
engineering solution calls for a process that may or may not require the design and construction
of a structure or device. Certainly, whenever an engineered system is called for it must be
accompanied by thoughtfulness about the operation and maintenance (O&M) and the life cycle
analysis (LCA) needed. Such a process represents the entire solution to the engineering problem,
such as instituting recycling or pollution prevention besides adding the new structure or changes
in diet and exercise in addition to the new device. Such intuitive thinking has gained currency
