Steps toward a Philosophy of Engineering: Historico-Philosophical and Critical Essays

About the Book

The rise of classic Euro-American philosophy of technology in the 1950s originally emphasized the importance of technologies as material entities and their mediating influence within human experience. Recent decades, however, have witnessed a subtle shift toward reflection on the activity from which these distinctly modern artifacts emerge and through which they are engaged and managed, that is, on engineering. What is engineering? What is the meaning of engineering? How is engineering related to other aspects of human existence? Such basic questions readily engage all major branches of philosophy --- ontology, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics --- although not always to the same degree. The historico-philosophical and critical reflections collected here record a series of halting steps to think through engineering and the engineered way of life that we all increasingly live in what has been called the Anthropocene. The aim is not to promote an ideology for engineering but to stimulate deeper reflection among engineers and non-engineers alike about some basic challenges of our engineered and engineering lifeworld.

Table of Contents:

Preface
Acknowledgments

Fragments in Search of an Introduction:
Remarks on Engineering as a Theme in Philosophy
[Introduction]
Emergence
Dual Contexts: West and East
Engineering Studies
American Initiatives
Engineering in Words
Philosophy and Engineering
Engineering Is Everywhere
Aspirations

Part One

1. Science, Technology, Engineering, and the Military
[Introduction]
Observations from History
Historico-Philosophical Background
After World War II in the United States
Military Embeds with Philosophy of Engineering
Conclusion
Addendum: Re-Engineering Warfare

2. Ethics into Design
[Introduction]
On the Existence of Design
On the Social Dimensions of Modern Design
On the Ethics of Designing
Two Versions of an Ethics in Design
Notes toward an Inner Ethics of Design
Notes

3. The Importance of Philosophy to Engineering
[Introduction]
1. Self-Defense and Philosophy
2. Self-Interest and Philosophy
3. Excursus: Three Questions
4. Engineering and Ethics
5. Beyond Applied Et

About the Author :
Carl Mitcham is International Distinguished Professor of Philosophy of Technology at Renmin University of China and Professor Emeritus of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the Colorado School of Mines. His publications include Thinking through Technology (1994), and Ethics and Science: An Introduction (2012, with Adam Briggle).

Review :
As a book to read cover-to-cover, Steps toward a Philosophy of Engineering possesses both the charms and tics of any collection of previously published essays. This collection of Mitcham's essays is a clearly-written, generous, and thoughtful guide. In other words, the volume as a whole should be assigned reading in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses. Carl Mitcham is one of the most authoritative voices in the philosophy of technology in Spain. His lifelong work has contributed to the understanding of how Western culture has changed through technology, having written important classics in this field. This new volume provides a new perspective on engineering as that form of human agency from which modern technology emerges. In my view, modernity has created a technocracy, a world where large-scale engineering projects as well as engineers of all types (civil, mechanical, chemical, electrical, computer ... even social) play leading roles. As Mitcham argues, philosophy must not ignore this reality. Mitcham convincingly shows why the engineering design stance is a better perspective to understand the intricacies of knowledge production and its problems than the approach based on science, technology or innovation. It also enables us to truly understand the world we live in. This book sets out the first steps for setting an agenda for an invigorating philosophical work. Across the past three decades, few scholars have thought as carefully or cogently as Carl Mitcham about the technoscientific world taking shape around us. In Steps toward the Philosophy of Engineering, we are treated to many of his best thoughts all in one place. This is destined to be a landmark text. Carl Mitcham has worked for many years on bridging the gap between philosophy (his specialist discipline) and technology (the one with which he has been engaging). He is probably the most eminent and respected exponent of that relationship, having established his credentials through his seminal book Thinking through Technology: The Path between Engineering and Philosophy (Mitcham, 1994). … As in his groundbreaking book of 1994, Mitcham is nothing if not comprehensive in this collection. … This is enhanced in this book by a range of collaborators, and his academic links with China, a culture very different from America. His occasional use of figures and tables will hopefully entice engineering readers to engage with him. I read the electronic version, which was helpful in searching for keywords when I moved from reading to writing, but there is also an index. The downside of reading through a collection of essays is that there is inevitable repetition, although this could also be seen as concept reinforcement. The benefit of a collection is that individual pieces can be used for study and discussion by students and faculty – and even practitioners.