ABSTRACT

The codes of ethics of a number of engineering professional societies begin with language that states that engineers are required in their professional work to hold paramount the safety of the public. This chapter considers a clear case of someone acting as a menace: a man who knowingly fires a rifle at the crowded bleachers at a baseball game. The sniper subjects a thousand innocent unsuspecting people to a risk of death and, even if no one is killed, the public is endangered in a most serious way. The ideals are aspirational in nature, calling attention to the central goals of the profession. They are important because they provide guidance in the development of an exemplary professionalism. But while they can be flouted and ignored, they cannot, strictly speaking, be violated. A world in which the safety of the public was routinely subordinated to other concerns would likely be a very dreadful world indeed.