Ethics and Engineering

You will explore the ethical and social aspects and problems related to technology and to your future work as professional or manager in the design, development, management or control of technology. You will be introduced to and make exercises with a range of relevant aspects and concepts, including professional codes, philosophical ethics, individual and collective responsibilities, value pluralism and relativism, responsibility within organisations, responsible conduct of companies and the role of law. You will analyse legal, political and organisational backgrounds to existing and emerging ethical and social problems of technology, and you will explore possibilities for resolving, diminishing or preventing these problems.

Written exam (60%, individual grade), presentation and active participation during the working group sessions (40%, same grade for all members of a presentation group).

In order to pass the course, a minimal grade of 5.5 should be obtained *both* in the exam *and* in the working group, and the average grade should be higher than 5.75.

It is possible to re-take the exam without re-taking the working groups, in this case the working group grade will be kept. If you re-take the exam, it is also possible to re-attend the working groups to improve the final grade.

These partial grades are only valid for 1 academic year, meaning that if one or both are not passed during resit, both assessments need to be retaken the following academic year.