A Volkswagen engineer was directed to create defeat device software to temporarily cheat on emissions tests by turning pollution controls on only when being inspected by regulators. The engineer’s moral consciousness did not originally object and an intention formed to do as directed. But assume that before acting on the intention, the VW engineer becomes aware that the U.S. government was taking a much tougher approach to corporate wrongdoing and a company was harshly punished recently for violating government environmental regulations. Because of the new inconsistency between anticipated and actual outcomes, the engineer begins to have second doubts about the intention.

Select and define three ethical theories. Distinguish the differences between each and explain how each might be used as you recommend a course of action to be taken by the Volkswagen engineer.