Workshop on Philosophy & Engineering

WPE-2008 INVITED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Thomas P. Hughes (University of Pennsylvania), author of Human-Built World, Rescuing Prometheus, & American Genesis

Title: The Relevance of History for Engineers
Abstract: How the historians’ approach to problems may be helpful for engineers.

Billy V. Koen (University of Texas at Austin), author of Discussion of the Method: Conducting the Engineer’s Approach to Problem Solving.

Title: Toward a Philosophy of Engineering: An Engineer’s Perspective
Abstract: If there is to be a Philosophy of Engineering, at the very least there must be an understanding of what the human activity we call engineering is. It is hard to see how a philosophy of anything could be developed when there is little understanding of what that anything is. PartI reprises an increasingly popular definition of engineering: “The engineering method (often called design) is the use of heuristics to cause the best change in an uncertain situation within the available resources.” Since this conference concerns engineerin gethics as one branch of a Philosophy of Engineering, it also shows how ethics enters engineering practice theoretically and how this differs from the classical view of Plato. Likewise, an effort to establish a Philosophy of Engineering must be based on an understanding of what the human activity we call philosophy is. How can an individual philosophize without knowing what to philosophize means? As a direct consequence of Part I and a series of demonstrations of Godels proof, the EPR experiment, multiple logic systems, and so forth, a new definition of philosophy that is consistent with engineering emerges as “Philosophy is the study of the heuristic by heuristics. Part II examines this view of philosophy as it applies to a Philosophy of
Engineering.

Carl A. Mitcham (Colorado School of Mines), author of Thinking through Technology: The Path between Engineering and Technology.

Title: The Philosophical Weakness of Engineering as a Profession
Abstract: One can distinguish between two kinds of professions. Strong professions, such as medicine and law, rest on the formulations of ideal goals that are also well embedded in the professional curriculum and practice. Weak professions, such as military and business, either lack such ideal goals or only weakly include the relevant specialized knowledge in a professional curriculum and practice. The (somewhat intentionally provocative) argument here will be that engineering had more in common with weak than with strong professions.

Ethics: Deborah G. Johnson (University of Virginia), author of Computer Ethics and Ethical Issues in Engineering.

Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA

WPE-2008 TUTORIALS

MONDAY

• Ethics: Aarne Vesilind (Bucknell U.), Peace Engineering
• Philosophy: Peter Kroes & Maarten Frannsen (TUDelft), Sociotechnical Systems
• Reflections: Sherra Kerns (Olin College), Educating the Engineer of the Future

TUESDAY

• Philosophy: Peter Simons (Leeds), Metaphysics in Engineering
• Reflections: Igor Aleksander (Imperial College London), Engineering Conscious Systems
• Ethics: TBA

See the WPE-2007 program here.