Ethical Standards for Engineers and the Concept of Freedom
Ethical Standards for Engineers
Article 36. – The engineer will be faithful to his employer or clients.
Article 37. – The engineer shall prevent conflicts of interest, whether foreseen or foreseeable, with his employers or clients, and shall accordingly report promptly any association, link, or circumstance that may affect his judgment or the quality of his services.
Article 38. – Engineers should not acknowledge their employers or clients when they believe that the work to be done will not be successful.
Article 39. – The engineer must maintain secrecy and discretion regarding any data or circumstance related to the client or the work contracted, as long as it is within his knowledge and does not contravene this code. He is obliged to uphold professional secrecy.
Article 40. – When an engineer is engaged in labor, he must obtain the consent of his employers to accept other professional assignments or installations.
Article 41. – Sanctions for contract breaches:
- a) Failure to comply with any of the norms established in this title.
- b) Offering, employing, or providing materials or equipment with characteristics that do not comply with the established specifications.
Sanctions will include a public warning or temporary suspension from the CIP for no more than 6 months.
- e) Utilizing confidential information received from a client or employer for one’s own benefit, that of a third party, or that of a client.
Sanctions will include a warning or temporary suspension from the CIP for no more than 6 months.
Article 42. – The engineer acting as an employer or in a position of responsibility must fully guarantee the rights and labor benefits of his dependent personnel.
Article 43. – The engineer must maintain a relationship of respect and collaboration with his colleagues, whether they are employees or employers, and must provide fair treatment, non-discrimination, opportunities for development, and fair compensation according to professional capacity.
Article 48. – Engineers shall not issue opinions on the work of other engineers for the same client, except when the latter has knowledge of this and when the circumstances are of public interest.
Article 49. – The engineer in public service or in service to a private client must evaluate the work of other professionals, taking into account his obligations.
Article 50. – Engineers shall acknowledge the work of other engineers, respecting their intellectual property and commercial rights.
Article 51. – Engineers shall not discredit the professional reputation of others, nor shall they engage in unfair practices.
Article 52. – Engineers shall not associate with individuals or firms engaged in fraudulent, dishonest, or unethical professional practices, nor shall they use their names in activities undertaken by such individuals or firms.
Article 53. – The engineer shall in no case attribute or award himself tasks performed by another engineer.
Article 54. – The following are considered contrary to professional ethics:
- a) Failure to comply with any of the norms established in this title.
- b) Attributing or awarding oneself projects, studies, graphs, or technical documents of which one is not the author.
Sanctions will include temporary suspension from the CIP for no more than 6 months.
- e) Directly or indirectly harming the professional reputation or business of another engineer.
Sanctions will include a private warning, public written warning, or temporary suspension from the CIP for no more than 6 months.
- d) Attempting to replace another engineer after he has taken steps to obtain the position.
Sanctions will include a private warning, public written warning, or temporary suspension from the CIP for no more than 6 months.
- e) Using one’s position to compete unfairly with another professional or to impede the publication or dissemination of an engineer’s work or that of a group of engineers.
Section 55. – Engineers must contribute their personal support to the success of the aims of the College, and the commissions assigned to them by the College must be accepted and fulfilled, excusing themselves only for just cause.
Article 56. – Engineers should encourage their colleagues to join the College. It constitutes a breach of professional ethics to prevent a colleague from joining the College.
Article 57. – Breaches of the provisions of this title, depending on their nature, may be subject to the sanctions provided in Title I, Section Six of the statutes, in accordance with Title II of the same Section.
Liberty and the Law
Moral law should not be a negation of liberty. There are those who say, “Be as free as sparrows.” But sparrows, as Kant warned, cannot fly in a vacuum.
What is Personal Liberty?
The dignity inherent in the person necessarily implies liberty, not understood as the simple possibility of choosing between several options, but as the capacity to decide for oneself what one wants to do at any given moment to be the person one wants to be. In summary, it is about what one wants to achieve and being satisfied. How then can this be achieved?
Is it Possible to Achieve Liberty?
It is difficult to reach the following principle: moral law should not be a negation of liberty. There are those who say, “Be as free as sparrows.” But this is an image that does not consider that liberty is not rudimentary or superficial, because it is governed by an inevitable force, whether or not one is free. The paradox is that one cannot want not to want. It is difficult to reach the following principle: the laws of the will should not be a negation of liberty.
Essential Freedom is the Will
Essential freedom is the will. But where does this power to want or not want come from? This power can only come from a nature irreducible to material things. It can only have an origin outside the cosmos (in God) and a mode of being that resides in being open, referring constitutively and intentionally to the totality of what is, or from another angle, to unlimited and consummate good, which in reality is nothing other than God.
The First Law of Liberty
This is, therefore, the first law of liberty: to choose God, because God wants our love with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength. The more one finds satisfaction in good, the more one finds satisfaction.
If Liberty is Desired
In these times, it is often said that liberty is the supreme value. However, this is not the case.
Contrary to appearances, liberty—referring to intimate personal liberty, which is dominion over one’s own acts—is of little interest. Moreover, it is often avoided.
There is Human Nature
However, there is something obvious that obliges us to admit the existence of human nature, that is, something common to all humans, from Adam, passing through Neanderthal, Cervantes, Newton, Einstein, Thatcher, Bush, Gorbachev… Something common that makes us consider them members of the same human race.
Positive and Negative Liberty
The Idea of Negative Liberty
Normally, one is considered free to the extent that no man or group of men interferes in one’s activity. In this sense, political liberty is simply the area in which a man can act without being obstructed by others. One is free to the extent that others do not prevent one from doing what one would otherwise do, and if this area of action is contracted to a certain minimum limit, one is said to be coerced or oppressed.
The Idea of Positive Freedom
The positive sense of the word “liberty” derives from the desire of the individual to be his own master. I want my life and my decisions to depend on me, not on external forces, whatever they may be. I want to be the instrument of my own acts of will, not those of other men. I want to be a subject, not an object; to be moved by reasons and conscious purposes that are my own, not by causes that affect me from outside. I want to be someone, not no one; I want to act.
Liberty and the Law
The Right to Freedom
There is a legal framework where freedom is found. That is, freedom is found within the law and is apparently limited by it. This framework corresponds to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Freedom is understood as a right that must be granted. The correct thing would be for freedom to allow the existence of rights, and freedom is a faculty of human nature. We are born with it. The problem is that due to our dependence, it is not possible to practice this faculty. With time, it has been shown that freedom is given to us when it seems appropriate. It is written in our culture. It is said that education is needed to be able to exercise freedom.