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Responsibility without Moralism in Technoscientific Design Practice

Bibliographic Data

ID5337004
AuthorsTsjalling Swierstra (0000-0001-5596-5633, University of Twente), Jaap Jelsma (University of Twente)
Year2006
Volume31
Issue3
Pages309-332
Publication date2006-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0162243905285844
OpenAlexW2165560625
LanguageEN
Citations received20
References cited9

While engineering ethics usually addresses the responsibility of engineers in rare cases of whistle blowing, the authors broach the question to what extent engineers can be held responsible in normal practice. For this purpose, they define the conditions under which individuals can be imputable as they prevail in ethics and common sense. From outcomes of science and technology studies research, the authors conclude that these conditions are seldom met in modern technoscientific research practice. By examining such practice in a case study and comparing the results with perceptions of engineers on social responsibility as expressed in interviews, the authors are able to demonstrate that (1) a change in structural characteristics of this practice, such as funding rules, stimulates engineers to attune the inner politics of science to wider societal policies and concerns, and (2) it helps them to overcome the shifting of social responsibility to others as a consequence of the lack of agency they usually perceive

Engineering ethics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Morality · Perception · Political science · Politics · Professional responsibility · Public relations · Social practice · Social responsibility · Social science · Sociology · Structure and agency · Engineering · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Law · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Philosophy

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Unique citing works20
Citations per year1,11
Citation span2008 - 2026 (19)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 20
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