Ethical Demand and First-Year Civil Engineering Study: Applying Virtue Ethics

Abstract

Incidents within the civil engineering profession (structural collapses, collusion, and the like) draw attention to the need for ethical conduct on the part of civil engineering practitioners. This paper explores ethical action in first-year civil engineering study. This is done to discuss the role of universities in the development of civil engineering graduates with a critical awareness of the need for ethical action. The paper uses a particular approach to virtue ethics to theorize first-year student actions during a practical exercise in concrete mix proportioning. Three aspects of ethical action emerged from observation of the students’ completion of this practicum: corner-cutting, erroneous reporting, and misrepresentation of knowledge and ability. The paper argues that ethical behavior should be nurtured and discussed throughout the undergraduate degree, so that students are more likely to practice ethical behavior after graduation. There is thus opportunity to better integrate consideration of ethical responsibility into the undergraduate curriculum, and to shift the focus of higher education away from external goods to the good of the profession and the communities it serves.