The Problem of Knowledge in Incorporating Humanitarian Ethics in Engineering Education: Barriers and Opportunities

After both providing a brief overview of historical and connections between engineering practice and humanitarian efforts and noting the qualitative research methodology used, we describe an investigation into the barriers and opportunities in implementing a new initiative in humanitarian engineering ethics (HEE). As the first phase toward HEE implementation, the authors interviewed engineering educators and students to better understand the types of barriers and opportunities implicit and explicit in launching HEE. Study participants reported barriers and opportunities that can be categorized according to the problem of knowledge on three dimensions: the organization, content, and hierarchy of knowledge in current engineering disciplines. These dimensions include the notions that knowledge is and has been organized along disciplinary lines, that the engineering sciences curriculum promotes particularly dominant problem-solving methods, and that some knowledge is valued over other types of knowledge. Study participants also suggested possible opportunities for addressing barriers