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Engineering And Society: The Importance Of Engineering In Society

980 Words4 Pages

The importance of engineers to society is like the importance of a wheel to a car. The car wouldn’t move forward, or even at all without wheels. Engineers, and their disciplines, are transforming ideas into practical solutions for the betterment of all. In order to achieve a societal benefit, an engineer must incorporate virtues in their decisions and their field of practice. Virtues play a strong role in the field of engineering today. To possess virtue, it requires a person with a complex mindset, a characteristic engineers are armed with. Virtues force an engineer to focus on the people and surrounding environment, rather than the action itself. A virtue is an excellent trait of character and a moral habit in which one maintains their values. A good person will make good decisions, therefore it is important to become a good person. Eudaimonia is a Greek word that Aristotle translate to be “human flourishing”. Eudaimonia is an objective state which illustrates personal happiness as a well-lived life. Aristotle believed that eudaimonia involves activity in accordance with virtue (arête). The activity needs to be rational demonstrating traits like honesty, pride, integrity, rationality and well-being. Basically eudaimonia is gained by placing personal happiness of an individual at the core of their ethical concern. Eudaimonia goes hand in hand with arête, also known as virtue or excellence. According to Aristotle, arête can be characterized as whatever makes something an

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