Key Concepts in Engineering Design and Ethics
Engineering Design and Ethical Concepts
Engineering Design
Engineering design is the activity in which certain functions are translated into a blueprint for an artifact, system, or service that can fulfill these functions with the help of engineering knowledge.
Design Process
The design process is an iterative process in which certain functions are translated into a blueprint for an artifact, system, or service. Often, the following six stages are distinguished:
- Problem analysis and formulation
- Conceptual design
- Simulation
- Decision
- Detail design
- Prototype development and testing
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Cost-benefit analysis is a method for comparing alternatives in which all the relevant advantages (benefits) and disadvantages (costs) of the options are expressed in monetary units, and the overall monetary cost or benefit of each alternative is calculated.
Technical Codes and Standards
Technical codes are legal requirements that are enforced by a governmental body to protect safety, health, and other relevant values. Technical standards are usually recommendations rather than legal requirements that are written by engineering experts in standardization committees.
Certification
Certification is the process in which it is judged whether a certain technology meets the applicable technical codes and standards.
Mediation of Perception
Mediation of perception refers to the influence of artifacts on human perception, that is, the sensory relationship with reality.
Structure of Amplification and Reduction
The structure of amplification and reduction is the fact that mediating technologies amplify specific aspects of (the perception of) reality while reducing other aspects.
Hazard
A hazard is possible damage or another undesirable effect.
Risk
Risk is a specification of a hazard. The most often used definition of risk is the product of the probability of an undesirable event and the effect of that event.
Precautionary Principle
The precautionary principle prescribes how to deal with threats that are uncertain and/or cannot be scientifically established. In its most general form, the precautionary principle has the following general format: If there is (1) a threat, which is (2) uncertain, then (3) some kind of action (4) is mandatory. This definition has four dimensions: (1) the threat dimension; (2) the uncertainty dimension; (3) the action dimension; and (4) the prescription dimension.
Collective Responsibility
Collective responsibility is the responsibility of a collective of people.
Liability
Liability is legal responsibility: backward-looking responsibility according to the law. It is usually related to the obligation to pay a fine or repair or repay damages.
Regulation
Regulation is a legal tool that can forbid the development, production, or use of certain technological products, but more often it formulates a set of the boundary conditions for the design, production, and use of technologies.
Negligence
Negligence is not living by certain duties. Negligence is often a main condition for legal liability. In order to show negligence for the law, usually proof must be given of a duty owed, a breach of that duty, an injury or damage, and a causal connection between the breach and the injury or damage.
Duty of Care
The duty of care is the legal obligation to adhere to a reasonable standard of care when performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others.
Pollution
Pollution refers to environmental problems in which something undesirable or damaging is added to the environment.
Non-Renewable Resources
Non-renewable resources are natural resources that cannot be renewed or reproduced. An example is fossil fuel.
Environmental Space
Environmental space is the (maximum) amount of use of renewable and non-renewable resources that does not exceed the boundaries of what the environment can take.
Carrying Capacity
Carrying capacity is the amount of damage that can be done to the environment without that damage being irreversible.