Engineers love to build things and have an innate sense of wanting to help society. However, these desires are often not connected or developed through reflections on the complexities of philosophy, biology, economics, politics, environment, and culture. To guide future efforts and to best bring about human flourishment and a just world, Engineering and Philosophy: Reimagining Technology and Progress brings together practitioners and scholars to inspire deeper conversations on the nature and varieties of engineering. The perspectives in this book are an act of reimagination: how does engineering serve society, and in a vital sense, how should it.

Comprehensive overview of contemporary research topics in Philosophy of Engineering and Technology Focuses on practical frameworks of ethics in relation to engineering and technology Includes chapters on policy implications, design and maintenance of systems and links to art and literature

Autorentext

Zachary Pirtle is a researcher of systems engineering and philosophy based in Washington, D.C., as well as a program executive and engineer enabling science and human exploration on the Moon.

David Tomblin is director of the Science, Technology and Society program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Guru Madhavan is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and senior director of programs at the National Academy of Engineering.

Klappentext

Engineers love to build "things" and have an innate sense of wanting to help society. However, these desires are often not connected or developed through reflections on the complexities of philosophy, biology, economics, politics, environment, and culture. To guide future efforts and to best bring about human flourishment and a just world, Engineering and Philosophy: Reimagining Technology and Progress brings together practitioners and scholars to inspire deeper conversations on the nature and varieties of engineering. The perspectives in this book are an act of reimagination: how does engineering serve society, and in a vital sense, how should it.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Reimagining Conceptions of Technological and Societal Progress (Zachary Pirtle, David Tomblin, and Guru Madhavan).- Section IA. Technological Progress: Reimagining How Engineering Relates to the Sciences. Chapter 2. Engineering Design Principles in Natural and Artificial Systems. Part I: Generative Entrenchment and Modularity (William C. Wimsatt).- Chapter 3. Technological Progress in the Life Sciences (Janella Baxter).- Section 1B: Technological Progress: Re-imagining Engineering Knowledge. Chapter 4. Philosophical Observations and Applications in Systems and Aerospace Engineering (Stephen B. Johnson).- Chapter 5. Prehistoric Stone Tool Technology and Epistemic Complexity (Manjari Chakraborty).- Chapter 6. Narrative and Epistemic Positioning: The Case of the Dandelion Pilot (Dominic J. Berry).- Section 2A. Social Progress: Considering Engineers' Ethical Principles. Chapter 7. Constructing Situated and Social Knowledge: Ethical, Sociological, and Phenomenological Factors in Technological Design (Damien Patrick Williams).- Chapter 8. Towards an Engineering Ethics with Non-engineers: How Western Engineering Ethics May Learn from Taiwan (Bono Po-Jen Shih).- Chapter 9. Broadening Engineering Identity: Moving beyond Problem Solving (Thomas Siller, Gerry Johnson, and Russell Korte).- Section 2B. Reimagining values and culture in engineering and engineered systems. Chapter 10. Engineering, Judgement and Engineering Judgement: A Proposed Definition (Daniel McLaughlin, PE).- Chapter 11. Technology, Uncertainty, and the Good Life: A Stoic Perspective (Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl).- Section 3A. Re-imagining how engineering relates to complex sociotechnical systems. Chapter 12. The Impact of Robot Companions on the Moral Development of Children (Yvette Pearson and Jason Borenstein).- Chapter 13. Engineering Our Selves: Morphological Freedom and the Myth of Multiplicity (Joshua Earle).- Section 3B: Reimagining Social Progress in Democracy, and the need to Align Engineering to Social Values. Chapter 14. Shared Learning to Explore the Philosophies, Policies and Practices of Engineering: The Case of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (Rider W. Foley and Elise Barrella).- Chapter 15. Middle Grounds: Art and Pluralism (Caitlin Foley and Misha Rabinovich).- Chapter 16. The Artefact on Stage Object Theatre and Philosophy of Engineering and Technology (Albrecht Fritzsche).- Chapter 17. Imagined Systems: How the Speculative Novel Infomocracy offers a Simulation of the Relationship between Democracy, Technology, and Society (Malka Older and Zachary Pirtle).- Section 4. Provocative Conclusion. Chapter 18. The Discrete Scaffold for Generic Design, an Interdisciplinary Craft Work for the Future (Ira Monarch, Eswaran Subrahmanian, Anne-Françoise Schmid, and Muriel Mambrini-Doudet).