Engineers who do not talk to themselves are setting themselves up for self-deception, for false self justification. They must move beyond rules, procedures, or even logical analysis, to the broadest configuration of life. While moral vision entails rule following and formal reasoning, it also encompasses imagination, emotion, and insight. It is that secret room that traps and releases our many and various moral thoughts and deeds. It recalls past habits of moral choice and our disposition to think and behave rightly or wrongly.
Vision is also the circumstance of our culture and ethical history.
It embodies more than commonly held moral principles, political frameworks, and procedural habits. Engineers must recognize and cultivate the social and cultural architecture that has formed them. Engineers who are willing to examine those traditions in the context of what it means to be human will better understand the struggles, and moral dilemmas that have plagued us from the beginning of time. There are three avenues to follow in cultivating moral vision. First, the process must be ongoing and dynamic.