Ethical Engineering: Definitions, Theories and Techniques - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 17

Many ethical approaches are based on rules and/or principles. Both principles
and rules are 'general action guides specifying that some type of action is prohibited,
required or permitted in certain circumstances' (Solomon 1978 ). The term norms is
sometime used to cover both principles and rules. It has been suggested that principles
are more general norms, whereas rules are more specifi c norms. Therefore, princi-
ples often motivate more specifi c rules which give a more concrete specifi cation of
the particular prohibited, required or permitted action(s) (Childress 1998 ).

2 Theories of Ethics

2.1 Introduction

There are a number of different ethical theories of appropriate professional and
personal conduct. There are also a number of different perspectives on the role of
such theories. Some people consider that they should be used purely to provide
guidance and highlight issues in ethical decision making, whereas others consider
that they can be applied to obtain the correct decision.
One of the main distinctions is between (Ersdal and Aven 2008 ):

• Deontological approaches, which are based on independent moral rules and
duties, which should be defi ned 'objectively' rather than subjectively.
• Consequentialist approaches, which are concerned with the consequences of
actions and with the balance between benefi ts and harms.

The difference between deontological and consequentialist ethics relates to the
means and ends argument. Is it justifi ed to do (slightly) wrong in order to achieve
(a greater) good? Do only results matter or is how you achieve them equally or even
more important?
I would suggest that being really ethical requires both means and ends, i.e.
actions and consequences, to be ethical. This means that both end products, includ-
ing technologies and devices, and the processes used to obtain these end products
should meet the highest ethical standards. As an extreme example in ethical terms,
it is clearly nonsensical to:

• Produce cost-effective gas chambers (for eliminating political opponents and
other 'undesirables') which meet the strictest health and safety standards, have
low emissions and energy consumption and are powered by solar panels.
• Produce safe, educational, fully accessible and fun toys in slave labour condi-
tions in a factory that tips radioactive waste into the local river.

These examples have been deliberately chosen to be extreme and therefore to
highlight the ethical issues. Most situations are not so extreme and the ethical issues
are not always as clear. It is these unclear areas that make ethical issues both diffi cult
and interesting. It has been suggested (Seedhouse 1988 ) that many writers about
technical ethics unfortunately consider them a form of intellectual game and do not