Anticipatory Ethics as a Method for Teaching Engineering Ethics

Aristotle "Our discussion will be adequate if it has as much clearness as the subject-matter admits of, for precision is not to be sought for alike in all discussions, any more than in all the products of the crafts." Abstract: In applied ethics, engaging students through the use of cases helps teach students about ethical issues arising in the fields they are studying. It can also help develop in students a sensitivity to social and historical issues related to the cases under discussion. Students are required to take ethics courses as a part of the preparation for students to enter the professional world and to deal with ethical issues arising in that world. The study of real world cases can help accomplish these tasks. A method is needed for Engineering and Information Computer Technology Ethics (ICTE) that is committed to remaining true to the technical principles of Engineering and ICT while also introducing students to the importance of Ethics. A research method that is committed to the study of real world cases allows students to perform research on Ethics, while simultaneously introducing technical distinctions from Engineering and ICT. These areas of study can be supplemented with the introduction of social and historical issues through the extensive use of layers of cases. This discussion presents a method that begins with the study of individual cases. The study of historical and individual cases is followed by the study of present cases. This is the foundation for a comparison of cases. The comparison of historical and present cases is the foundation for comparing historical and present cases to emerging cases, which are cases that are capable of developing in the present moment. The comparison of historical, present, and emerging cases presents a foundation for analyzing anticipated cases and for the introduction of Anticipatory Ethics. The method presented in this discussion introduces students in applied ethics classes to the analysis of technical and ethical issues emerging from historical and present cases and to use this background to project trajectories for anticipated cases that may potentially arise in the future. The need for the introduction of an anticipatory analysis is based upon the idea that the exponential growth of technology gives rise to unique cases that need to be addressed as they arise and as far as possible before they arise.