Empathy's Role in Engineering Ethics: Empathizing with One's Self to Others Across the Globe

Area of Science:

• Engineering Ethics
• Moral Psychology
• Decision Science

Background:

• Engineering decisions have significant global consequences, necessitating ethical considerations.
• Microethics (individual responsibility) and macroethics (societal obligations) provide frameworks for engineering ethics.
• Empathy is crucial for ethical reasoning, but its dimensions play different roles in micro- and macroethics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To differentiate the roles of affective and cognitive empathy in micro- and macroethics within engineering.
• To propose a framework visualizing empathy across six frames of reference, from self to future generations.
• To enhance engineering students' ability to empathize with diverse global stakeholders.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of engineering ethics education through the lenses of microethics and macroethics.
• Application of Gilligan's and Kohlberg's moral development theories to distinguish empathy dimensions.
• Development of a six-frame visualization for empathy in engineering decision-making.

Main Results:

• Affective empathy primarily supports microethics (care, interpersonal focus).
• Cognitive empathy primarily supports macroethics (justice, systems focus).
• A framework illustrates empathy's manifestation across self, team, operators, participants, bystanders, and future generations.

Conclusions:

• Differentiating empathy's roles clarifies its importance in engineering ethics.
• The proposed framework and proxy stakeholder concept can improve ethical reasoning and inclusive behavior.
• Enhanced empathy enables engineers to consider a broader range of stakeholders impacted by their decisions.