Introduction to the Book Review of Philosophy and Engineering: Reflections on Practice, Principles and Process

This book is essentially a select group of research papers presented at the Forum on Philosophy, Engineering and Technology (fPET) conference, to prompt discussion and debate over the nature and purpose of engineering and the role and impacts of engineering within society.

The primary mission of fPET is to encourage reflection on engineering, engineers, and technology by philosophers and engineers alike and to build bridges between existing organizations of philosophers and of engineers.

They firmly believe that without a greater understanding of the issues involved in this engineer/philosopher link up, the ability of engineering to address global societal challenges is seriously compromised.

Their subsequent missions also involve showing how reflective engineering can assist in the process of the construction of engineering identity: what it is to be an engineer and how integrating engineering and philosophy might lead to innovation in engineering design and curricula.

As a college student, I used to have a lot of awe and wonder for engineering and its contribution in propelling our species forward, but over time I have to admit it has reduced. Consider it as a professional mid life-crisis after spending 6 years in workforce.

My interest in reading this book is an attempt to reclaim that awe and wonder I once used to have, through exposing myself to the deeper philosophy of the nature of engineering. Philosophy has always been my strong suit and it has come to my rescue numerous times in the past in various fields, and Engineering is my profession, my source of bread and butter and where my career is going to be. So I see this marriage as a sine qua non.

To most of us engineers, this level of philosophical scrutiny over Engineering may seem excessive as it was never taught to us to think of engineering in this way at schools. However, exploring the ontological and epistemological dimensions of engineering through these papers will be challenging the notion that engineering is simply the application of scientific knowledge to problem solving.