Posted: December 9th, 2022

NSPE

Student’s Name
Professor
Course
Date
Answers to Ideas for Discussion
After reading the NSPE, what I notice about part 1 is that it outlines the list of moral principles that engineers should observe and apply in their line of duty to their profession, clients and society. In part II, it outlines detailed information about the meaning of each canon listed principles in Part I such as the specific situation, when and how to apply them.
According to my thinking about the relation between I and II, the reason as to why principle number 6 is not in part II it’s because the part II is all about giving detailed information about the principles in part I, and from the look of things the principle 6 is already detailed in part I, such that it says, these values must be observed in Engineers profession. This means as they observe all other 5 principles they need to ensure they are conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, lawfully and ethically. If number 6 was to be included, all details of the other 5 principles should have been included in number 6 because I believe it is a general requirement for all other principles.
Under section II, heading 3, subheading 3.c which states engineers may prepare articles for the lay or technical press, but such articles shall not imply credit to the author for work performed by others, it depicts canon 3 of being truthful to the public in such a way that, engineers can carry out research work or come up with ideas that they might want the public to know about. However, they should be truthful in such a way that, they do not use other peoples work, or cite them in case of presentation of research ideas and pretend it is theirs, rather they should reference the owners or in other words give them credit so as not to deceive the public.
The purpose of section III is to give a detailed information on how engineers should behave as trained engineers from a profession perspective. This is in regard to knowledge and skills that they have learned in the course of their entire career. The other part gives the values of how they should conduct themselves morally, whereas part III outlines how engineers should conduct themselves morally in regard to engineering knowledge and skills obtained in class during the practice of their profession.
5.1 The NSPE code maps on to the ethical framework of the course
Reading the NSPE code of ethics I am able to identify the three perspectives that the values focuses on. That is having three main parts of action; the consequences, the action itself, and the actor. For example, the first and third principle is more about engineers from the part of consequences in regard to the people that they are serving. The second, fourth and fifth principle is more about the action itself, that is it instructions how engineers should act while doing their work. The sixth principle focuses on the actor themselves. That is how the engineers should behave as individuals in their line of duty. In other words, their personal morals.

5.2 Part III is required because Part II does not cover all cases
When reading the codes of Ethics, one is able to realize that there are three part and all the three parts have their uses. To begin with, part one lists the principles while part two gives detailed information about part three by being specific. However, the principle number 6 is not covered in part two which according to my understanding is reason as to why part 3 is included. From my understanding, principle 6 illustrates how engineers should conduct themselves in all aspects covered in both part two. However, the part two could not outline everything that is why the part three was necessary more so to cover the principle from the perspective of engineering knowledge and skills. Part three is more specific on how we should behave as engineers while practicing the engineering knowledge as a profession.
5.3 Part III addresses values of character
By reading part 3, one is able to identify that, it is all about our behaviors, habits or prominent attributes as engineers. Being professional requires more than how one dresses, skills and their knowledge. Character is a person’s ethical strength. An ethical behavior drives how one interacts with other people within their profession. Therefore, part 3 is all about the values of character of engineers. The engineers are expected to hold a moral character that guides them to do the right thing even when no one is watching. An engineer moral values and qualities of their character determines if they will be successful at workplace or not. Therefore, this part is about the core values, such as practicing honesty and integrity, doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do, in order to promote a culture of compliance within an organization and build its reputation as an ethical organization.