The Value of Applied Ethics in Engineering Studies in a Horizon of Reliable Artificial Intelligence

Article Sidebar

PDF (Spanish) PDF EPUB (Spanish) HTML (Spanish)
Published: Feb 27, 2024
Updated: 2024-02-27
Versions:
2024-02-27 (3)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17163/soph.n36.2024.07
Keywords:
Ethics, engineering, artificial intelligence, education, civic responsibility, university

Main Article Content

Antonio Luis Terrones Rodriguez
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4015-8537
Mariana Rocha Bernardi
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5805-9588

Abstract

Political institutions such as the European Commission and the Government of Spain haveexpressed their interest and willingness to lay the foundations for ethical governance of ArtificialIntelligence (AI). In particular, they have proposed the promotion of reliable Artificial Intelligence through a set of guidelines and strategies. Despite the benefit provided by these political initiatives, it is not possible to fully appreciate a specific educational strategy that contributes to the generation of an ethical AI ecosystem based on trust. In this sense, the main objective of this work is to demonstrate that the teaching of applied ethics in engineering studies constitutes a commitment to professional strengthening, ethical governance and responsible research and innovation. To achieve this objective, first of all, some of the essential aspects that give significant value to the teachingof applied ethics will be detailed, highlighting the social responsibility that universities present in this field. Secondly, a classification of ethics subjects related to engineering in the environment of Spanish public universities will be shown. And, thirdly, a theoretical framework rooted in discursive ethics will be offered, promoting a civic perspective in the educational context of the professions.

Article Details

Issue
No. 36 (2024): (January-June 2024): Philosophical approach to learning as a cognitive process.
Section
Miscellaneous
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authorship: The list of authors signing must include only those people who have contributed intellectually to the development of the work. Collaboration in the collection of data is not, by itself, a sufficient criterion of authorship. "Sophia" declines any responsibility for possible conflicts arising from the authorship of the works that are published.
Copyright: The Salesian Polytechnic University preserves the copyrights of the published articles, and favors and allows their reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Ecuador license. They may be copied, used, disseminated, transmitted and publicly displayed, provided that: i) the authorship and the original source of their publication (journal, editorial and work URL) are cited; (Ii) are not used for commercial purposes; Iii) mention the existence and specifications of this license.

References

Apel, K. O. (1985). La transformación de la filosofía I. Análisis del lenguaje, semiótica y hermenéutica. Madrid: Taurus.

Apel, K. O. (1985). La transformación de la filosofía II. El a priori de la comunidad de comunicación. Madrid: Taurus.

Arenas Dolz, F. (2021). Competencias para la innovación y el emprendimiento social. El caso de Ethos Living Lab. Revista CIDUI: Más allá de las competencias: nuevos retos en la sociedad digital, 1-18. (https://www.raco.cat/index.php/RevistaCIDUI/article/download/389891/485738) (2023-03-14).

Barry, B. E. & Ohland, M. W. (2013). Applied Ethics in the Engineering, Health, Business, and Law Professions: A Comparison. Journal of Engineering Education, 98(4), 377-388. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2009.tb01034.x

Byrne, J., Straub, H., DiGiovanni, L. & Chor, J. (2015). Evaluation of ethics education in obstetrics and gynecology residency programs. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 212(3), 397.e1-397.e8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2014.12.027

Chen, S. C.-Y. & Shen, M.-C. (2019). The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Development of Artificial Intelligence. En F.-L. Tony Yu & D. S. Kwan (Eds.), Contemporany Issues in Internacional Political Economy (pp. 333-346). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Clarkeburn, H. J., Downie, J. R. & Matthew, B. (2010). Impact of an Ethics Programme in a Life Sciences Curriculum. Teaching in Higher Education, 7(1), 65-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510120100391

Comisión Europea (2014). Horizon 2020. (https://wayback.archive-it.org/12090/20220124075100/https:/ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/) (2023-05-13).

Comisión Europea (2020). White Paper On Artificial Intelligence: a European approach to excellence and trust. (https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/white-paper-artificial-intelligence-european-approach-excellence-and-trust_en) (2023-02-18).

Conill, J. (2006). Ética hermenéutica: crítica desde la facticidad. Madrid: Tecnos.

Conill, J. y Arenas Dolz, F. (2010). Ética hermenéutica de las profesiones. En M. Correa Casanova y P. Martínez Becerra (Eds.), La riqueza ética de las profesiones (pp. 55-89). Santiago de Chile: RIL editores.

Cortina, A. (1986). Ética mínima. Madrid: Tecnos.

Cortina, A. (1990). Ética sin moral. Madrid: Tecnos.

Cortina, A. (1994). La ética de la sociedad civil. Madrid: Anaya.

Cortina, A. (1996). El estatuto de la ética aplicada. Hermenéutica crítica de las actividades humanas. Isegoría, 13, 119-134. https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.1996.i13.228

Cortina, A. (1996). Un mundo de valores. Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana. Conselleria de Cultura, Educació i Ciencia.

Cortina, A. (1998). Ciudadanos del mundo. Madrid: Alianza.

Cortina, A. (2001). Ética aplicada y democracia radical. Madrid: Tecnos.

Cortina, A. (2007). La ética de la razón cordial. Educar en la ciudadanía en el siglo XXI. Oviedo: Nobel.

Cortina, A. (2010). Justicia Cordial. Madrid: Trotta.

Dahlin, E. (2021). Mind the gap! On the future of AI research. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00750-9

Davis, M. (2021). Profesional Codes of Ethics. En D. Michelfelder & N. Doorn (Eds.), International Handbook of Philosophy of Engineering (pp. 567-586). London: Routledge.

Davis, M. (1998). Thinking Like an Engineer: Studies in the Ethics of a Profession. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dignum, V. (2019). Responsible Artificial Intelligence. Cham: Springer.

Domingo Moratalla, A. (2018). Ética de la investigación: ingenio, talento y responsabilidad. Barcelona: Herder.

Domingo Moratalla, A. (2005). Ética de las profesiones y formación universitaria: tres modelos de responsabilidad profesional. Revista de Fomento Social, 60, 39-55.

Domingo Moratalla, A. (2010). Ética de las profesiones y formación universitaria: tres modelos de responsabilidad profesional. En M. Correa Casanova y P. Martínez Becerra (Eds.). La riqueza ética de las profesiones (pp. 91-109). Santiago de Chile: RIL editores.

Floridi, Luciano et al. (2018). AI4People An ethical framework for a good AI society: Opportunities, risks, principles, and recommendations. Minds and Machines, 28(4), 689-707. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-018-9482-5

Floridi, L. (2021). Ethics, Governance, and Policies in Artificial Intelligence. Cham: Springer.

Future of Life Institute (2017). Asilomar AI Principles. (https://futureoflife.org/ai-principles/) (2023-02-03).

Gallagher, A. (2006). The teaching of nursing ethics: content and method. En A. Davis, V. Tschudin & L. Tew (Eds), Essentials of teaching and learning in nursing ethics: perspectives and methods (pp. 223-239). London: Churchill Livingstone.

García Marzá, D. (1992). Ética de la justicia: J. Habermas y la ética discursiva. Madrid: Tecnos.

García Marzá, D. (1997). La ética como instrumento de gestión empresarial. Castellón: Universitat Jaume I.

García Marzá, D. (2004). Ética empresarial: del diálogo a la confianza. Madrid: Trotta.

Gobierno de España (2020a). Estrategia Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial. (https://portal.mineco.gob.es/RecursosArticulo/mineco/ministerio/ficheros/201202_ENIA_V1_0.pdf) (2022-11-05).

Gobierno de España (2020b). Plan España Digital 2025. (https://portal.mineco.gob.es/RecursosArticulo/mineco/prensa/ficheros/noticias/2018/Agenda_Digital_2025.pdf) (2022-11-20).

Gobierno de España (2021). Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia. (https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/temas/fondos-recuperacion/Documents/30042021-Plan_Recuperacion_%20Transformacion_%20Resiliencia.pdf) (2022-11-28).

Gómez-Senent, E. (2000). Ingeniería. En J. Conill y A. Cortina (Eds.), 10 palabras clave en ética de las profesiones (pp. 129-152). Estella Navarra: Verbo Divino.

González Esteban, E. & Calvo, P. (2022). Ethically governing artificial intelligence in the field of scientific research and innovation. Heliyon, 8(2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08946

Gracia, D. (2017). The mission of ethics teaching for the future. International Journal of Ethics Education, 1, 7-13.

Gracia Calandín, J. (2018). El desafío ético de la educación. Madrid: Dykinson.

Grupo de Expertos de Alto Nivel sobre Inteligencia Artificial (2018). Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. (https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/ethics-guidelines-trustworthy-ai) (2023-03-01).

Habermas, J. (2000). Aclaraciones a la Ética del discurso. Madrid: Trotta.

Habermas, J. (1989). Teoría de la acción comunicativa: complementos y estudios previos. Madrid: Cátedra.

Herkert, J. R. (2001). Future directions in engineering ethics research: Microethics, macroethics and the role of professional societies. Science and Engineering Ethics, 7(3), 403-414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-001-0062-2

Herkert, J. R. (2005). Ways of thinking about and teaching ethical problem solving: Microethics and macroethics in engineering. Science and Engineering Ethics, 11(3), 373-385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-005-0006-3

Hess, J. L. & Fore, G. (2018). A systematic literature review of US engineering ethics interventions. Science and Engineering Ethics, 24(2), 551-583. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9910-6

Volkwein, J. F., Lattuca, L. R., Terenzini, P. T., Strauss, L. C. & Sukhbaatar, J. (2004). Engineering Change. A Study of the Impact of EC2000. International Journal Engineering, 20(3), 318-328.

Lonngren, J. (2020). Exploring the discursive construction of ethics in an introductory engineering course. Journal of Engineering Education, 110(1), 44-69. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20367

Lorenzen, P. (1987). Lehrbuch Der Konstruktiven Wissenschaftstheorie. Berlin: Bibliographisches Institut.

Lozano Aguilar, J. F. (2010). Ética para ingenieros. En M. Correa Casanova y P. Martínez Becerra (Eds.), La riqueza ética de las profesiones (pp. 259-283). Santiago de Chile: RIL editores.

Martínez Navarro, E. (2006). Ética de la profesión: proyecto personal y compromiso de ciudadanía. Revista Veritas, 14, 121-139.

McCorduck, P. (1991). Máquinas que piensan. Madrid: Tecnos.

Monasterio Astobiza, A. (2021). Inteligencia Artificial para el bien común (AI4SG): IA y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible. Arbor, 197(802), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3989/arbor.2021.802007

Morozov, E. (2015). La locura del solucionismo tecnológico. Buenos Aires: Clave Intelectual.

Newberry, B. (2004). The Dilemma of Ethics in Engineering Education. Science and Engineering Ethics, 10, 343-351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-004-0030-8

(UNESCO) Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (2004). Programa de Educación Ética. (https://es.unesco.org/themes/etica-ciencia-y-tecnologia/educacion-en-etica) (2023-03-12).

(UNESCO) Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (2006). Declaración Universal sobre Bioética y Derechos Humanos. (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000146180_spa) (2023-02-02).

Sandberg, J. (2013). Deontology. En A. Runehow (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Cham: Springer.

Sennett, R. (2000). La corrosión del carácter. Las consecuencias personales del trabajo en el nuevo capitalismo. Barcelona: Anagrama.

Steinmann, H. & Lohr, A. (1994). Grundlagen Der Unternehmensethik. Schaffer-Poeschel.

Ten Have, H. & Patrao Neves, M. (2021). Dictionary of Global Bioethics. Cham: Springer.

Université de Montréal (2017). Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of AI. (https://www.montrealdeclaration-responsibleai.com/the-declaration) (2023-03-24).