Ethical Engineering: Definitions, Theories and Techniques - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 54

is not possible, to cancel it. However, this is a fairly extreme scenario, and in general
it should be possible to carry out research or develop products and devices in assis-
tive technology without exposing anyone to risk or behaving unethically. As indi-
cated earlier, it is not just the process of carrying out the research that needs to be
ethical but also the outcomes. There are therefore projects which should not be
carried out, regardless of whether or not the actual research process is ethical.

4.4 Gatekeeping and Suppressing Dissenting

Opinions and Minorities

Another issue in research process and practice that has associated ethical concerns
is gatekeeping. However, less attention has been given to it than, for instance, to
plagiarism. It is not often recognised that gatekeeping raises ethical problems. This
involves, for instance, (1) women and ethnic and other minorities having less access
to grants and publications in prestigious journals and (2) barriers being set up to the
publication of theories that challenge accepted orthodoxies.
Suppressing minority or dissenting opinions or excluding women and minorities
clearly raises serious ethical issues. It is also likely to have undesirable practical
consequences on the progress of research, as the suppression of certain types of
opinion or making things diffi cult for particular researchers is not conducive to the
development of research. It is also possible that it is the minority opinions or minor-
ity group researchers that would lead to the really signifi cant research advances.
Therefore, exclusion of these researchers or suppression of their views will prevent
or delay these signifi cant research advances. In addition, this type of suppression is
counter to the principles of academic freedom and respect for persons and
autonomy.

4.5 Whistleblowing

Much of the literature on ethics focuses on individual responsibility and ignores
collective and social responsibility. However, everyone is part of society and many
engineers work as part of an organisation. Collective responsibility should be con-
sidered a way of sharing responsibilities and supporting and encouraging ethical
behaviour rather than as a way of getting out of individual responsibilities. Collective
responsibility also includes some responsibility for the ethical behaviour of the pro-
fession as a whole and a responsibility for providing support to colleagues to behave
ethically. These aspects of collective responsibility can best be exercised by joining
trade unions and organisations of concerned professionals. Support for ethical
behaviour from such organisations can be very helpful.
As already indicted, collective responsibility includes a degree of responsibility
for encouraging ethical behaviour and preventing unethical behaviour in your own