Spiritual Dimensions of Environmental Ethic for Engineers

Abstract

Engineers are often the guardians of the environment, and just as often the instruments of environmental destruction. They are constantly called on to make ethical decisions that will affect the future of the planet Earth and its inhabitants. Little guidance is available, however, to the engineer on how such decisions should be made. There is no formal environmental ethic for engineers. Classical ethical theory does not seem to provide a useful tool for helping us understand our responsibilities toward the environment or for making decisions where environmental values conflict. One approach to developing an acceptable environmental ethic is to turn to the spiritual dimension. This paper shows how many of the world's religions can be useful in the development of an environmental ethic, and it also illustrates that the acceptance of organized religion is not necessary for the formulation of an environmental ethic. We show that a useful and satisfying environmental ethic can be developed on individual and personal spiritual foundations, and we suggest that most people already use spirituality to condition their attitudes toward the environment.