Book contents
- Next-Generation Ethics
- Next-Generation Ethics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgment
- 1 Next-Generation Ethics
- 2 Ethical Distinctions for Building Your Ethical Code
- Part I Technology
- Part II Business Enterprises
- Part III Engineering
- 15 A Whistle Not Blown: VW, Diesels, and Engineers
- 16 Addressing Corruption in Our Global Engineering/Construction Industry
- 17 Ethical Issues Facing Engineers in Oil and Gas Operations
- 18 Engineering Codes of Ethics: Legal Protection and Empowerment for Engineers
- 19 Engineering Ethics When Lives Are on the Line: When Does Bad Engineering Become Bad Ethics?
- 20 Case Studies of Product Life Cycle Environmental Impacts for Teaching Engineering Ethics
- Part IV Society
- Index
- References
15 - A Whistle Not Blown: VW, Diesels, and Engineers
from Part III - Engineering
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 October 2019
- Next-Generation Ethics
- Next-Generation Ethics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgment
- 1 Next-Generation Ethics
- 2 Ethical Distinctions for Building Your Ethical Code
- Part I Technology
- Part II Business Enterprises
- Part III Engineering
- 15 A Whistle Not Blown: VW, Diesels, and Engineers
- 16 Addressing Corruption in Our Global Engineering/Construction Industry
- 17 Ethical Issues Facing Engineers in Oil and Gas Operations
- 18 Engineering Codes of Ethics: Legal Protection and Empowerment for Engineers
- 19 Engineering Ethics When Lives Are on the Line: When Does Bad Engineering Become Bad Ethics?
- 20 Case Studies of Product Life Cycle Environmental Impacts for Teaching Engineering Ethics
- Part IV Society
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter is a “case study,” that is, a collection of facts organized into a story (the case) analyzed to yield one or more lessons (the study). Collecting facts is always a problem. There is no end of facts. Even a small event in the distant past may yield a surprise or two if one looks carefully enough. But the problem of collecting facts is especially severe when the facts change almost daily as the story “unfolds” in the news. One must either stop collecting on some arbitrarily chosen day or go on collecting indefinitely. I stopped collecting on October 3, 2016 (the day on which I first passed this chapter to the editor of this volume). There is undoubtedly much to be learned from the facts uncovered since then, but this chapter leaves to others the collecting and analyzing of those newer facts. The story I tell is good enough for the use I make of it here – and for future generations to consider. Increasingly, whistleblowing is being understood to be part of the professional responsibilities of an engineer.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Next-Generation EthicsEngineering a Better Society, pp. 217 - 229Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019