Engineering Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Engineering Ethics - Essay Example Today, France generates about 70% of its electricity with an array of nuclear plants that come in only three sizes: small, medium, and large. In fact, their plants make so much electricity that France is the largest net exporter of electric power in the world. And modular, standardized construction practices are a large part of why the French nuclear effort has been such a success† (Kayde, 2011). Modular practices make it harder to produce dual-use materials or turn waste into weaponry. France's engineers created a moral result through engineering. Is smart nuclear power ethical? Some people think it isn't, no matter how smart. But it seems to really stretch believability that nuclear power is always by definition a bad thing. Is it really worse than coal? Is it so much worse that there is never a reason to use it over coal? Engineers working on smarter nuclear solutions is moral even when many activists are opposed to nuclear power as a matter of course. But there is another p oint to make. Morality must always be adjudicated based not just on consequences but on the innate character of the acts and the virtues of the person involved. One problem with consequentialist, utilitarian perspectives is that they tend to allow people to justify flawed solution A over B without ever trying to think of good solution C, something deontological ethics prevents by favoring the status quo.