The Rise of Philosophy of Engineering in the East and the West

Abstract

Philosophy of engineering, a new branch of philosophy, came into being both in the East and the West at the beginning of the 21st century. Although Chinese and Western scholars in the field of philosophy of engineering worked independently and did not come into immediate contact with each other during the developing process, they synchronized their steps forward unexpectedly. Their efforts made philosophy of engineering score substantial progress in academic and institutional aspects. Nevertheless, there are still some important problems in philosophy of engineering that need to be worked out. One of the most important problems is whether it is possible and necessary to establish philosophy of engineering. The kernel of this problem is the relationships among science, technology and engineering. This article puts forward the triism or trichotomy on science, technology and engineering. Science, technology, and engineering are three kinds of different activities and have important differentiations. There are many differences between scientific community and engineering community. Engineering is a complex phenomenon and philosophy of engineering is and should be an important branch of philosophy.