Public Welfare Paramount — Superior Technical Knowledge as Duty Basis
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/136#Public_Welfare_Paramount_—_Superior_Technical_Knowledge_as_Duty_Basis
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Engineer A's duty to warn tenants who are unaware of the structural danger discovered through expert inspection
Balancing with
Confidentiality Principle
Concrete expression
The Board articulates that the engineer's public safety obligation rests on the recognition that engineers possess superior technical knowledge relative to the lay public — this epistemic asymmetry grounds a duty of care toward those who cannot evaluate engineering risks themselves.
Confidence
0.95
Importance
high
Interpretation
The public welfare paramount principle is grounded in epistemic asymmetry: engineers know things the public cannot know, and this superior knowledge creates a corresponding duty to protect those who are exposed to risks they cannot perceive or evaluate.
Invoked by
Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The epistemic asymmetry rationale reinforces the priority of public safety disclosure — the tenants cannot protect themselves from a danger they do not know exists and cannot technically evaluate, making Engineer A's disclosure obligation especially strong.
Source Evidence
Source text
This responsibility rests with the recognition that engineers with their education, training and experience possess a level of knowledge and understanding concerning technical matters which is superior to that of the lay public.
Text references
This responsibility rests with the recognition that engineers with their education, training and experience possess a level of knowledge and understanding concerning technical matters which is superior to that of the lay public.
TTL
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@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/136#Public_Welfare_Paramount_—_Superior_Technical_Knowledge_as_Duty_Basis> a proeth:PublicWelfareParamount,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Public Welfare Paramount — Superior Technical Knowledge as Duty Basis" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's duty to warn tenants who are unaware of the structural danger discovered through expert inspection" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Confidentiality Principle" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The Board articulates that the engineer's public safety obligation rests on the recognition that engineers possess superior technical knowledge relative to the lay public — this epistemic asymmetry grounds a duty of care toward those who cannot evaluate engineering risks themselves." ;
proeth:confidence "0.95" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "136" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "136" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The public welfare paramount principle is grounded in epistemic asymmetry: engineers know things the public cannot know, and this superior knowledge creates a corresponding duty to protect those who are exposed to risks they cannot perceive or evaluate." ;
proeth:invokedby "Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Public Welfare Paramount" ;
proeth:sourcetext "This responsibility rests with the recognition that engineers with their education, training and experience possess a level of knowledge and understanding concerning technical matters which is superior to that of the lay public." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The epistemic asymmetry rationale reinforces the priority of public safety disclosure — the tenants cannot protect themselves from a danger they do not know exists and cannot technically evaluate, making Engineer A's disclosure obligation especially strong." ;
proeth:textreferences "This responsibility rests with the recognition that engineers with their education, training and experience possess a level of knowledge and understanding concerning technical matters which is superior to that of the lay public." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 136 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T13:14:37.525276"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 136 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
136
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00
First case
136
Generated
2026-03-01T13:03:31.215609+00:00
Attributed to
Case 136 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T13:14:37.525276
Generated by
ProEthica Case 136 Extraction