Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
46
Ehrlich,
The Population Bomb
, 78.
profession, but to those outside of
engineering. An action could very well
be legal, and even professionally
permissible, but may still fall below the
ethical threshold if reasonable people
consider it to be wrong.
L.W. Beck, 1951, (Indianapolis, IN:
Bobbs-Merrill, 1959).
47
In 1883, Francis Galton, Charles
Darwin's cousin, coined the term
''eugenics.'' He reportedly objected to
charity because it encouraged the poor to
have more children. Such elitism is an
example of social engineering run amok.
59
Biomedical Engineering Society, 2004,
Biomedical Engineering Society, 2004,
''Biomedical Engineering Society Code
of Ethics,''
http://www.bmes.org/pdf/
2004ApprovedCodeofEthicsShort
Form.pdf
(accessed 8 January 2006).
53
L. Kohlberg,
The Philosophy of Moral
Development
, vol. 1 (San Francisco, CA:
Harper & Row, 1981).
48
National Society for Professional
Engineering, 2003, NSPE Code of Ethics
for Engineers,
http://www.nspe.org/
ethics/ehl-code.asp
(accessed
8 January 2006).
60
This wording is quite interesting. It
omits ''public safety.'' However, safety
is added under professional obligations
that biomedical engineers ''use their
knowledge, skills, and abilities to
enhance the safety, health, and welfare
of the public.'' The other interesting
word choice is ''considerations.'' Some
of us would prefer ''obligations''
instead. These compromises may
indicate the realities of straddling the
design and medical professions. For
example, there may be times when the
individual patient needs supersede
those of the general public and
vice
versa
.
54
J. Piaget,
The Moral Judgment of the
Child
(New York, NY: The Free Press,
1965).
49
55
T.L. Beauchamp and J.F. Childress,
''Moral Norms,'' in
Principles of
Biomedical Ethics
, 5th ed. (New York,
NY: Oxford University Press, 2001).
J.R. Rest,
Moral Development: Advances
in Research and Theory
(New York, NY:
Praeger, 1986); and J.D. Rest,
D. Narvaez, M.J. Bebeau, and
S.J. Thoma,
Postconventional Moral
Thinking: A Neo- Kohlbergian Approach
(Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, 1999).
50
B. Gert,
Common Morality: Deciding
What to Do
(New York, NY: Oxford
University Press, 2004).
51
American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, 2006, Professional Practice
Curriculum, ''Engineering Ethics,''
http://www.professionalpractice.asme.
org/engineering/ethics/0b.htm
(accessed
10 April 2006).
56
R. Duska and M. Whelan,
Moral
Development: A Guide to Piaget and
Kohlberg
(New York, NY: Paulist Press,
1975).
61
American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, 2005, Sustainability:
Engineering Tools,
http://www.
professionalpractice.asme.org/business_
functions/suseng/1.htm
(accessed
10 January 2006).
57
Hence, the engineering profession's
emphasis on experience and mentorship.
52
Note that this is not the ''reasonable
engineer standard.'' Thus, the reasonable
person standard adds an onus to the
profession, i.e., not only should an action
be acceptable to one's peers in the
58
J.A. Rawls,
A Theory of Justice
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1785); and I. Kant,
Foundations of
the Metaphysics of Morals
, trans.
