Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3
The original version of this thought experiment was conceived by philosopher Philippa Ruth Foot
(born 1926). She is one of the leaders of the contemporary movement to virtue ethics. Virtue
ethics centers around what a person should become; that is, the goal of ethics is “eudaimonia”
(the Aristotelian concept of “success” sometimes translated as “happiness” but more correctly as
“blessedness.”). The twentieth-century movement is known as the “aretaic” turn, from the Greek
term
arête
, meaning “excellence.” This is in contrast to utilitarian and other “consequentialist”
ethical models, where ethics is predominantly determined by outcome.
4
“Teaching Ethics to Scientists and Engineers: Moral Agents and Moral Problems,”
Science
and
Engineering
Ethics
1
, no. 3 (1995): 299-308.
5
Laplace's equation on the rectangular region, 0 <x<a0 <y<b, is subject to the Dirichlet
boundary conditions:
x
2
uxb
x
2
b
2
ux0
=
=
−
y
2
uay
a
2
y
2
u0y
=−
=
−
y
2
, making it well posed.
6
J. Hadamard,
Lectures
on
the
Cauchy
Problem
in
Linear
Partial
Differential
Equations
(New Haven,
CN: Yale University Press, 1923).
7
N.R. Augustine, Ethics and the second law of the thermodynamics.
The
Bridge
, 32(3) Fall, 2002.
8
R. Rolheiser,
The
Holy
Longing:
The
Search
for
a
Christian
Spirituality
(New York, NY: Double-
day, 1999).
9
This case is found at
http://onlineethics.org/bib/appcw-pt3.html
(accessed 30 June 2006).
10
C. Gulligan,
In
a
Different
Voice:
Psychological
Theory
and
Women's
Development
(Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1993).
11
T. Aquinas,
Summa
Theologica
, I-II Q94 Art 2.
12
Often, texts, manuals, and handbooks are valuable, but only when experience and good listening skills
are added to the mix can wise (and ethical) decisions be made. First-century thinking linked maturity
to “self-control” or “temperance” (Greek
kratos
for “strength”). St Peter, for example, considered
knowledge as a prerequisite for temperance. Thus, from a professional point of view, he seemed to be
arguing that one can really only understand and appropriately apply scientific theory and principles
after one practices them (I realize he was talking about spirituality, but anyone who even casually
studied Peter's life would see that he fully integrated the physical and the spiritual). This is actually
the structure of most professions. For example, engineers who intend to practice must first submit
to a rigorous curriculum (approved and accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology), then must sit for the Future Engineers (FE) examination. After some years in the
profession (assuming tutelage by and intellectual osmosis with more seasoned professionals), the
engineer has demonstrated the
kratos
(strength) to sit for the Professional Engineers (PE) exam.
Only after passing the PE exam does the National Society for Professional Engineering certify that
the engineer is a “professional engineer” and eligible to use the initials PE after one's name. The
engineer is, supposedly, now schooled beyond textbook knowledge and knows more about why in
many problems the correct answer is “It depends.” In fact, the mentored engineer even has some
idea of what the answer depends on (i.e., beyond “knowing that one does not know” as Socrates
would say).
x
2
The unique solution to this BVP is uxy
=
−
