Philosophy and Engineering: Reflections on Practice, Principles and Process

The volume is divided into reflections on practice, principles and process, each of which challenges prevalent assumptions and commitments within engineering and philosophy. The volume explores the ontological and epistemological dimensions of engineering and exposes the falsity of the commonly held belief that the field is simply the application of science knowledge to problem solving. Above all, the perspectives collected here demonstrate the value of a constructive dialogue between engineering and philosophy and show how collaboration between the disciplines casts light on longstanding problems from both sides.

The chapters in this volume are from a diverse and international body of authors, including philosophers and engineers, and represent a highly select group of papers originally presented in three different conferences. These are the 2008 Workshop on Philosophy and Engineering (WPE-2008) held at the Royal Academy of Engineering; the 2009 meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT-2009) at the University of Twente in the Netherlands; and the Forum on Philosophy, Engineering, and Technology (fPET-2010), held in Golden, Colorado at the Colorado School of Mines.