ABSTRACT
Engineering ethics is a form of professional ethics which requires reflection on the specific social role of engineers. One recent textbook emphasizes that engineering ethics is a type of professional ethics and as such must be distinguished from personal ethics and from the ethical obligations one may have as an occupant of other social roles. Like most myths, the meanings attributed to this event serve more to reinforce complacency with the status quo than to encourage serious soul searching and institutional reform. The mood and tense of the myth are past perfect subjunctive: the ethicist focuses on what should have been, using the tools of what any reasonable, informed engineer should have had at his or her disposal. Engineering ethics education would be enriched by a focus on sociological and cultural context of engineering practice. Prepackaged ethical dilemmas are standard fare for courses in engineering ethics since they allow teachers to cover a case in a single class session.
