Engineers' Moral Responsibility: A Confucian Perspective.

Area of Science:

• Engineering Ethics
• Moral Philosophy
• Cross-Cultural Studies

Background:

• Engineering ethics education predominantly relies on Western philosophical frameworks.
• There's a recognized need to incorporate cultural sensitivity into engineering ethics training.
• Existing literature lacks exploration of Eastern ethical perspectives, such as Confucianism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the concept of moral responsibility within Confucianism.
• To explore the potential contributions of a Confucian perspective to engineering ethics.
• To analyze the Citicorp case through a Confucian ethical lens.

Main Methods:

• Comparative ethical analysis of Confucianism and Western virtue ethics (Aristotelian).
• Case study analysis of the Citicorp incident using a Confucian framework.
• Literature review of existing engineering ethics education and moral responsibility concepts.

Main Results:

• Confucianism emphasizes ethical virtues, with less explicit focus on intellectual virtues compared to Aristotelian ethics.
• Confucianism presents a less defined boundary for individual responsibility than many Western approaches.
• Significant commonalities exist between Confucian and Western virtue-based views on moral responsibility.

Conclusions:

• A Confucian perspective offers valuable insights for engineering ethics, particularly regarding the scope of responsibility.
• The identified commonalities between Confucian and Western ethics provide a basis for bridging cultural divides.
• This research supports the development of more culturally inclusive ethics education for engineers.