2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Entrepreneurship courses

Doctoral Ethics of Scientists and Engineers C

Academic unit or major: Entrepreneurship courses
Instructor(s): Hidekazu Tanaka / Yoshinori Kitahara
Class Format: Lecture
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): unknown
Class: C
Course Code: ENT.C621(LAC.C621)
Number of credits: 100
Course offered: 2025
Offered quarter: 3Q
Syllabus updated: Aug 22, 2025
Language: Japanese

※ Courses with parentheses in the course number have different subject codes depending on the student's year of admission.

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Despite the trend that compliance is emphasized in these days, there is no end to the number of ethical problems such as inspection fraud, data falsification, and falsified failure in the automotive, electrical, steel, medical device, chemical, and manufacturing industries. Doctoral scientists and engineers are expected to have acquired the ethics of daily life as individuals, but they are also expected to have professional ethics in addition to specialized knowledge and research skills. In this lecture, you learn what kind of ethical issues are inherent in incidents and accidents related to engineering, science, and technology, understand the essence behind such issues through case studies, and develop the ability to speculate on ethical issues related to your specialty and those that may arise in the future. The objective of this course is to acquire the ability to speculate on ethical issues related to your field of specialty and on ethical issues that may arise in the future and to acquire methods for solving ethical problems.

Course description and aims

(1) To understand the basic ethical issues that doctoral scientists and engineers should have, systematically.
(2) To acquire the ability to analyze actual cases that have occurred in the past and to find inherent ethical issues and the essential problem behind them.
(3) To acquire the ability to speculate on ethical issues related to your field and on ethical issues that may arise in the future.
(4) To be able to make a program of ethics education for scientists and engineers that you are expected to conduct at a university, a research institute, or a company.

Student learning outcomes

実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)

He has experience in R&D management, including risk management and ethics education, during his 33-year career with the company (Central Research Laboratory and Headquarters, Hitachi, Ltd.).

Keywords

Social responsibility, research misconduct, intellectual property protection, product liability, environmental ethics, energy issues, artificial intelligence, dual-use technologies, compliance, diverse society, ethics education

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

In this course, the first half of each is a lecture, and the second half will be in the form of active learning such as discussions and debates.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	(1) Social Responsibility and Ethics for Scientists and Engineers (Oct. 7, Tue. 5-6 Period), Zoom We consider what ethics means to scientists and engineers, what are the social responsibilities of scientists and engineers, and what is the relationship between ethics and law. In addition, as a case study, we discuss the background and factors of a case example that excellent scientists participated in.	Before the lecture, read the materials (case study especially). After the lecture, organize and submit today's discussion points.
Class 2	(2) Research Ethics (Oct. 14, Tue. 5-6 Period), Zoom We consider the current situation of scientists and engineers and ethics in research activities, including misconduct and misuse of research funds. The role of research notebooks and how they should be used will also be discussed. In addition, as a case study, we will discuss the background and factors of a case in which research misconduct was discovered in a published paper that attracted attention as groundbreaking research.	Before the lecture, read the materials (case study especially). After the lecture, organize and submit today's discussion points.
Class 3	(3) Technical Information and Intellectual Property Protection (Oct. 21, Tue. 5-6 Period), Zoom We learn what technical information is, what intellectual property is, and the intellectual property protection system that protects the ideas and technologies that we created. We also learn about the procedures for actually patenting an idea. Furthermore, as a case study, we consider a lawsuit over the payment of compensation for intellectual property rights obtained in the company's research laboratory.	Before the lecture, read the materials (case study especially). After the lecture, organize and submit today's discussion points.
Class 4	(4) Product Liability (Oct. 28, Tue. 5-6 Period), Zoom We consider the characteristics of product liability arising from the developer of a product and the relationship with the user. As a case study, we discuss whether product liability law applies to an accident case resulting in damage in which a child playing with a product.	Before the lecture, read the materials (case study especially). After the lecture, organize and submit today's debate points.
Class 5	(5) Environmental Ethics (Nov. 11, Tue. 5-6 Period), Zoom We consider the environmental and resource issues, energy issues, as well as the efforts of engineers to address global warming and environmental conservation. In addition, we will discuss environmental pragmatics.	Before the lecture, read the materials (case study especially). After the lecture, organize and submit today's debate points.
Class 6	(6) AI technology and Ethics (Nov. 18, Tue. 5-6 Period), Zoom We consider the ethics involved in artificial intelligence and self-driving technology, including generative AI. In addition, we will discuss the use of generative AI technology.	Before the lecture, read the materials (case study especially). After the lecture, organize and submit today's debate points.
Class 7	(7) Diverse Society and Ethics of Scientists and Engineers (Nov. 25, Tue. 5-6 Period), Zoom We consider the attitude that scientists and engineers should take toward human rights and the attitude that scientists and engineers should take toward the globalization and diversity of society from the aspect of ethics. In addition, we conduct debates on human rights issues that have come under scrutiny due to the advancement of science and technology. Finally, the participants will present and discuss the last issues.	Before the lecture, read the materials (case study especially). After the lecture, organize and submit today's debate points.

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

No textbook is specified, but uploaded lecture materials are used.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

・Y.Kitahara,"A first course in engineering ethics," Kodan-sha（2011）
・Code of Ethics for Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers（2007）
・R. Schinzinger M. Martin, Introduction to Engineering Ethics 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill Science, 2009
・R. K. Merton, The Sociology of Science, The University of Chicago Press（ 1973）
・J. M. Ziman, Real Science: What It is and What It Means, Cambridge University Press (2000)
・M.Hayashi et al., Engineering Ethics, CORONA-sha (2006)

Evaluation methods and criteria

Evaluation will be based on the student's attitude toward the class (20%), the assignment report (30%), and the content of the final program(50%).

Related courses

Other career courses
LAH.S402 ： Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences2:Ethics in Engineering
LAC.M521 ： Ethics of Scientists (Master Course)
LAH.T105 ： Ethics in Engineering A
LAH.T206 ： Ethics in Engineering B
LAH.T305 ： Ethics in Engineering C

Prerequisites

No specific prerequisites

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

ykita[at]cc.tuat.ac.jp

Office hours

13:30-15:30 on the lecture day

Other

GA1D