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Abstract In this paper, we analyze three prominent professional engineering codes of ethics (NSPE, IEEE, and SHPE) to identify the virtues of engineering practice. This preliminary investigation by four raters (three engineers and one philosopher) revealed six prominent virtues - Responsibility, Integrity, Honesty, Trustworthiness, Teamwork, and Fairness. As an opportunity for future work, we believe there are missing virtues (e.g., Bravery, Leadership, Curiosity, Creativity, Perseverance, Hope, Love of Learning) that should be made more visible to the practice of engineering and thus engineering code of ethics. Identifying the virtues of engineering practice can inform engineering ethics education and broaden the ethics perspective by introducing virtues and virtue ethics to the education of future engineers. A virtue ethics lens offers a richer understanding and more humanistic perspective to ethical dilemmas facing engineers every day. Implications for engineering education and engineering practice are discussed.
Boatman et al. (Sun,) studied this question.