IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2019 - 69

ccording to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the establishment of the Royal
Society of London for Improving
Natural Knowledge (Royal Society),
the "oldest national scientific
society in the world," was on
November 28, 1660. In 1818,
the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the first professional engineering body, was also set up in London. Ten
years later King Georges IV granted ICE its Royal Charter. Throughout the past 200 years, the world, and Western societies in particular, have experienced deep
social changes. The engineering profession has not
been an exception, and today its ethos is much broader
and complex than the roots and conditions that were
found at its origins. What elements are required for professional self-awareness in 21st century engineers? Our
goal here is to outline these potential characteristics of
contemporary engineering.

Professional Self-Awareness
As a starting point it is perhaps opportune to remember
that acting as a responsible professional includes
always keeping in mind that the professional is at any
time personally involved. In other words, being a
responsible professional implies having a role in how
the practice of the profession contributes to society, as
well as considering the effects that one's own attitudes
and actions have on the profession. Certainly these features, far from being a distinctive characteristic of engineering, are common to all professional activities.
Given this assumption, professional self-awareness can
be understood as "[...] a method of practical reflection
mediating between the professional's reasoned assessment of the ends toward which the profession ideally
aims and the specific situations and intentional dispositions that motivate the professional's behavior within
the profession" [1, p. 125].
Thus defined, professional engineer self-awareness
incorporates two dimensions. First, self-awareness
includes a technical dimension, which includes,
among other elements, scientific knowledge, techniques, and abilities required to be a competent professional. Second, there is a social dimension,
including elements such as values, ends, and principles required to be a committed professional. These
dimensions are quite different, but both have to be
taken into account because they complement each
other throughout professional activity. Separately, neither good intentions nor good know-how guarantee by
themselves a good result.
It is not surprising that the technical dimension of
self-awareness is easily and widely recognized and
accepted by engineers. Most engineering education is
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focused on these aspects (mathematics, physics,
chemistry, technology, etc.), and students are willing to
learn whatever knowledge is required after acceding to
the profession.
However, the social dimension easily sows more dissension when it appears on the stage. From the academic point of view, the social aspect is often included
in the wide field of engineering ethics, and it is tackled
in the classroom through the presentation of professional codes or the study of cases, among other resources.
That said, the teaching of engineering ethics is not our
subject here. For our purposes, at this moment it is
enough to point out that the social dimension of professional self-awareness becomes much more apparent
whenever the engineer does not confuse the aims of the
profession with her personal goals. That is to say, the
social dimension becomes more apparent when the profession is considered a means to serve society and the
engineer herself is considered someone who contributes to an open-ended social enterprise, instead of a
means to earn money or to succeed.

Professional engineer self-awareness
has two dimensions: a technical
dimension (including scientific
knowledge) and a social dimension
(including values).
Evolution of Professional Engineering Ethos
The set of elements to be considered in professional
self-awareness is dynamic, and over time has gravitated around different values according to the evolution
of the professional engineering ethos. Mitcham [2, pp.
50-55] distinguishes three historical stages in this
evolution. As they are useful in understanding the
characteristics of our present stage, specifically those
we will consider later in more detail, it is convenient
to identify briefly the core values of each of these
three periods.
The first stage begins in the 19th century with the
establishment of institutions specializing in engineering
education, which held in common the fact that they
were ruled by military administration. Consequently, the
main values attributed by engineers of this time were
closely related to loyalty, discipline, and obedience to
authority. The second stage begins in the 20th century
and reflects the growing reputation engineers were
acquiring in society. Progress seemed to be in their

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2019

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