2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Much has been written about engineering ethics, particularly related to codes and standards. However, those codes and standards are based primarily on protecting the public and not on virtues. It is argued here that virtue is a higher standard than ethics. While something may be ethical in terms of codes, standards, and industry norms, it may not be virtuous. Events in the author’s experience will illustrate this point. These are presented as case studies where one is argued to be an example of non-virtuous engineering and one is presented as an example of virtuous engineering. In addition to two case studies, this paper will briefly consider the virtues relevant to engineering and discuss some factors related to ethics that impact equipment design and operations. The thesis of this paper is there may be a moral component in process and equipment design that goes beyond traditional engineering ethics training.