Downey Gary Lee, Lucena Juan C, Mitcham Carl
Department of Science and Technology in Society, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2007 Dec;13(4):463-87. doi: 10.1007/s11948-007-9040-7. Epub 2007 Nov 21.
This article describes and accounts for variable interests in engineering ethics in France, Germany, and Japan by locating recent initiatives in relation to the evolving identities of engineers. A key issue in ethics education for engineers concerns the relationship between the identity of the engineer and the responsibilities of engineering work. This relationship has varied significantly over time and from place to place around the world. One methodological strategy for sorting out similarities and differences in engineers' identities is to ask the "who" question. Who is an engineer? Or, what makes one an engineer? While engineering ethics has attracted little interest in France and formal education in the subject might be seen as redundant, German engineering societies have, since the conclusion of World War II, demanded from engineers a strong commitment to social responsibility through technology evaluation and assessment. In Japan, a recent flourishing of interest in engineering ethics appears to be linked to concerns that corporations no longer function properly as Japanese "households." In each case, deliberations over engineering ethics emerge as part of the process through which engineers work to keep their fields in alignment with changing images of advancement in society.
本文通过将近期的相关举措与工程师不断演变的身份联系起来，描述并解释了法国、德国和日本在工程伦理方面的不同关注点。工程师伦理教育中的一个关键问题涉及工程师的身份与工程工作责任之间的关系。这种关系在不同时间和世界各地差异显著。梳理工程师身份异同的一种方法策略是问“谁”的问题。谁是工程师？或者，是什么使一个人成为工程师？虽然工程伦理在法国鲜受关注，该学科的正规教育可能被视为多余，但自第二次世界大战结束以来，德国工程学会一直要求工程师通过技术评估对社会责任做出坚定承诺。在日本，最近对工程伦理的兴趣激增似乎与对企业不再像日本“家庭”那样正常运作的担忧有关。在每种情况下，关于工程伦理的讨论都是工程师努力使自己的领域与社会进步不断变化的形象保持一致的过程的一部分。
