MTU Cork Library Catalogue

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Engineering, ethics, and the environment / P. Aarne Vesilind and Alastair S. Gunn.

By: Vesilind, P. Aarne.
Contributor(s): Gunn, Alastair S.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998Description: xvi, 314 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. + pbk.ISBN: 0521581125 (hbk); 0521589185 (pbk).Other title: Ethics and the environment [Spine title].Subject(s): Engineering ethics | Environmental ethicsDDC classification: 179.1
Contents:
Part I -- The problem of environmental ethics in engineering -- Engineering as a people-serving profession -- The search for environmental ethics in professional -- The search for environmental ethics by applying -- The search for environmental ethics by extending the moral community -- The search for environmental ethics in spirituality -- Incorporating environmental ethics into engineering -- Part II -- Supplemental readings for chapter 1 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 2 -- Supplementary readings for chapter 3 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 4 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 5 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 6.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
General Lending MTU Bishopstown Library Lending 179.1 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00078541
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book makes the case that engineers have special professional obligations to protect and enhance the environment, and the authors--one an engineer and the other a philospher-- seek to provide an ethical basis for these obligations. In exploring these ethical issues, the authors aim to show that engineers make a difference. The text opens with a series of case studies in which engineers face complex and challenging decisions about the environment. Succeeding chapters examine different ideas about environmental ethics for engineers, including professional codes and both modern and historical discussions of environmental responsibility. The book concludes with a collection of readings that complement the text. Students, as well as practicing engineers, will find much of interest in this well-argued and thought-provoking book.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Part I -- The problem of environmental ethics in engineering -- Engineering as a people-serving profession -- The search for environmental ethics in professional -- The search for environmental ethics by applying -- The search for environmental ethics by extending the moral community -- The search for environmental ethics in spirituality -- Incorporating environmental ethics into engineering -- Part II -- Supplemental readings for chapter 1 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 2 -- Supplementary readings for chapter 3 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 4 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 5 -- Supplemental readings for chapter 6.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Preface
  • Part I
  • 1 The problem of environmental ethics in engineering
  • 2 Engineering as a people-serving profession
  • 3 The search for environmental ethics in professional codes of ethics
  • 4 The seach for environmental ethics by applying classical ethical theories
  • 5 The search for environmental ethics by extending the moral community
  • 6 The search for environmental ethics by appealing to spirituality
  • 7 Incorporating environmental ethics into engineering
  • Part II
  • 8 Supplemental readings

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Vesilind and Gunn's excellent treatment of ethical theory applied to engineering is comparable to Mike W. Martin and Roland Schinzinger's Ethics in Engineering (2nd ed., 1989), also a collaboration between engineering and philosophy professors. Dealing with the engineers' interaction with the "non-human environment," the book seeks definition of an "environmental ethic." Seven chapters treat the nature of engineering and ethical theory, and each chapter has a collection of supplementary readings. These, along with an introductory presentation of short case studies, effectively inform the subsequent discussions of the engineering profession and the formal aspects of ethical theory. The main emphasis is the integration of an environmental ethic into engineering practice, with the hope of enhancing decision-making skills by engineering students. Chapter 7 discusses the problem of actually doing this, a daunting task that might have been better accomplished by a more extensive discussion of the relevant barriers: fragmentation and specialization in engineering; lack of autonomy of decision making in corporate-employee environments; blurring of the distinction between engineering, management, and business; and the prevailing norms of contemporary society. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. B. D. Lichter; emeritus, Vanderbilt University

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