Ethics and Responsibility in Civil Engineering

Many agencies, companies, and professional organizations require that their members attend a yearly "ethics session" (usually for PDH credit) to maintain their good standing. Why? Do these sessions make its attendees "more ethical"? Or is it a paperwork drill to protect against potential liabilities? What are the engineer's moral obligations? Where do these obligations come from? After framing these questions with a bit of moral philosophy, the ASCE Code of Ethics will be used to discuss how engineers should understand--and grapple with--what is morally required of them.