An Engineer’s Approach to the Philosophy of Engineering

Abstract

The view of a practicing engineer on how philosophy relates to engineering provides definitions of engineering, technology, and their connections. A practicing engineer also holds distinctive views about the boundary between engineering and society, which significantly influences many issues currently under discussion in the philosophy of engineering. Of additional relevance to philosophy of engineering is the design process and the transition from functional requirements to physical realization. Within design in the functional domain there exist a number of issues that also deserve philosophical analysis.