Integrating Public Context Perception in Engineering Design

The public is often sceptical regarding the technological improvements provided by engineering design. Sometimes, it seems these products do not satisfy the public's requirements or the common welfare. Engineers are fully aware of technical issues during the design process but they are often not conscious enough of the socioe-thical implications of their work. That situation can lead to the inability to create positive mutual communication between society and engineers, which is necessary for a publically accepted outcome. In this chapter we first review the ethical issues involved in engineering design and the difficulties that engineers find for their application. Secondly, we discuss the common approach based on containing the process of design through regulations and its efficiency in order to obtain a publicly-accepted outcome. Thirdly, we examine the possibilities for an application of the ethical principles based on the engineer as an individual, wherein members of the engineer's collective from a conception based on the social ethics paradigm in which other stakeholders can be integrated. Finally, some considerations regarding the relationship between design and policy are examined.