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Philosophy of engineering and technology, 2022

Tidsskrift for Professionsstudier

International interdisciplinary research on engineering education and practice (Christensen et al... more International interdisciplinary research on engineering education and practice (Christensen et al., 2007, 2009, 2019, and 2022 forthcoming) points to the fact, that the engineer’s understanding of the ‘social’ is underprioritized and discursively enacted as soft versus hard technical disciplines. As a result, it has often contributed to a cultural impoverishment of our lifeworld. Hence there is a need for a Bildung perspective in engineering degree programs. A perspective taking its point of departure in the democratic, cultural, and human challenges of society. The discourse on Bildung has primarily taken place in relation to the pedagogical professions, whereas the engineering profession has often been overlooked. In this contribution we make up for this by considering a contribution with potential for supplying a concept of Bildung suitable for the engineering profession and engineering degree programs. The article brings forth the social and ethical responsibility embedded in en...

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2018

One of the most controversial claims ever made on the engineering-business nexus was put forward ... more One of the most controversial claims ever made on the engineering-business nexus was put forward by Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) in his 1921 book The Engineers and the Price System, in which he argued that the engineers would have the potential to become a revolutionary class in America. His claim fundamentally questioned, if not entirely rejected, the rationale of a nexus between engineering and business. Veblen explored the cultural contradictions of capitalism (The formulation is borrowed from the title of Daniel Bell’s 1976 book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism published with BasicBooks and reprinted in 1996 with the same publisher) (the price system) in terms of a contradiction between industry and business. From an anthropological perspective he traced this contradiction to the residual habits of primitive societies. By juxtaposing engineers to the ‘pecuniary class’ Veblen aimed to explore a possible candidate movement such as the one led by progressive engineers with...

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2018

The vested rights of absentee ownership are still embedded in the sentiments of the underlying po... more The vested rights of absentee ownership are still embedded in the sentiments of the underlying population, and still continue to be the Palladium of the Republic; and the assertion is still quite safe that anything like a Soviet of technicians is not a present menace to the vested interests in America. (Veblen 1921, p. 128) The engineer is both a scientist and a business man. (Layton 1971, p. 1) While the systematic monopolization of scientific knowledge by the professionals increased the autonomy of scientists, however, it had the opposite effect upon engineers, tying them to the large corporation. (Noble 1977, p. 43) Questions about the nature, history and context of the engineering-business nexus related to specific times and countries are not new, as evidenced by the quotations given above from three American classics: Thorstein Veblen's The Engineers and

Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is... more Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is more than ever necessary in a society that sees itself not only as open, but indeed as accelerating, in that it holds as a credo that there be unlimited mobility, innovation at any price, and chameleon-like fl exibility." (Mittelstrass 2006: 1) "It is rare for engineering students … to question everything under heaven or earth in the way that good science students will." (C.

2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference, 2008

This article explores the rationale for including in an integrated five-years Masters Engineering... more This article explores the rationale for including in an integrated five-years Masters Engineering programme liberal arts subjects, in particular Philosophy and the History of Science and Technology. We argue that the tools of philosophy should be used to provide additional insight into how engineering was and is 'performed'. We first review the challenge, next we present some results of an empirical case study carried out at AU-IBT in Denmark. The purpose of the case study was to examine a sample of engineering teachers´ attitudes towards the relevance and scope of liberal arts subjects for engineering students. Finally we conclude with a proposal for the inclusion of Philosophy and History of Engineering, Science and Technology in an engineering programme and how this might be done.

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2019

Fascinating and compelling in equal measure this volume presents a critical examination of the mu... more Fascinating and compelling in equal measure this volume presents a critical examination of the multilayered relationships between engineering and business. In so doing the study also stimulates ethical reflection on how these relationships either enhance or inhibit strategies to address vital issues of our time. In the context of geopolitical, economic, and environmental tendencies the authors explore the world that we should want to create and the role of the engineer and the business manager in this endeavor. Throughout this volume the authors identify periods of alignment and periods of tension between engineering and business. They look at focal points of the engineering-business nexus related to the development of capitalism. The book explores past and present movements to reshape, reform, or reject this nexus. The volume is informed by questions of importance for industry as well as for higher education. These are: What kinds of conflict arise for engineers in their attempts t...

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2015

ABSTRACT This inclusive cross-cultural study rethinks the nexus between engineering education and... more ABSTRACT This inclusive cross-cultural study rethinks the nexus between engineering education and context. In so doing the book offers a reflection on contextual boundaries with an overall boundary crossing ambition and juxtaposes important cases of critical participation within engineering education with sophisticated scholarly reflection on both opportunities and discontents. Whether and in what way engineering education is or ought to be contextualized or de-contextualized is an object of heated debate among engineering educators. The uniqueness of this study is that this debate is given comprehensive coverage – presenting both instrumentally inclined as well as radical positions on transforming engineering education. In contextualizing engineering education, this book offers diverse commentary from a range of disciplinary, meta- and interdisciplinary perspectives on how cultural, professional, institutional and educational systems contexts shape histories, structural dynamics, ideologies and challenges as well as new pathways in engineering education. Topics addressed include examining engineering education in countries ranging from India to America, to racial and gender equity in engineering education and incorporating social awareness into the area. Using context as “bridge” this book confronts engineering education head on. Contending engineering ideologies and corresponding views on context are juxtaposed with contending discourses of reform. The uniqueness of the book is that it brings together scholars from the humanities, the social sciences and engineering from Europe – both East and West – with the United States, China, Brazil, India and Australia.

ABSTRACT This second companion volume on engineering studies considers engineering practice inclu... more ABSTRACT This second companion volume on engineering studies considers engineering practice including contextual analyses of engineering identity, epistemologies and values. Key overlapping questions examine such issues as an engineering identity, engineering self-understandings enacted in the professional world, distinctive characters of engineering knowledge and how engineering science and engineering design interact in practice. Authors bring with them perspectives from their institutional homes in Europe, North America, Australia\ and Asia. The volume includes 24 contributions by more than 30 authors from engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. Additional issues the chapters scrutinize include prominent norms of engineering, how they interact with the values of efficiency or environmental sustainability. A concluding set of articles considers the meaning of context more generally by asking if engineers create their own contexts or are they created by contexts. Taken as a whole, this collection of original scholarly work is unique in its broad, multidisciplinary consideration of the changing character of engineering practice.

Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is... more Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is more than ever necessary in a society that sees itself not only as open, but indeed as accelerating, in that it holds as a credo that there be unlimited mobility, innovation at any price, and chameleon-like fl exibility." (Mittelstrass 2006: 1) "It is rare for engineering students … to question everything under heaven or earth in the way that good science students will." (C.P. is book is concerned with Bildung, with engineers and with engineering education. As observed by Jürgen Mittelstrass, Bildung cannot be instrumentalised, it transcends the needs of the day. Bildung represents a fundamentally critical refl ection on the relationship between the whole and the part and thus serves to give knowledge orientation as to its function in a world which abounds with information. According to C.P. Snow, there is a lack of this kind of critical refl ection in engineering to the detriment of the profession.

Philosophy of engineering and technology, 2022

Tidsskrift for Professionsstudier

International interdisciplinary research on engineering education and practice (Christensen et al... more International interdisciplinary research on engineering education and practice (Christensen et al., 2007, 2009, 2019, and 2022 forthcoming) points to the fact, that the engineer’s understanding of the ‘social’ is underprioritized and discursively enacted as soft versus hard technical disciplines. As a result, it has often contributed to a cultural impoverishment of our lifeworld. Hence there is a need for a Bildung perspective in engineering degree programs. A perspective taking its point of departure in the democratic, cultural, and human challenges of society. The discourse on Bildung has primarily taken place in relation to the pedagogical professions, whereas the engineering profession has often been overlooked. In this contribution we make up for this by considering a contribution with potential for supplying a concept of Bildung suitable for the engineering profession and engineering degree programs. The article brings forth the social and ethical responsibility embedded in en...

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2018

One of the most controversial claims ever made on the engineering-business nexus was put forward ... more One of the most controversial claims ever made on the engineering-business nexus was put forward by Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) in his 1921 book The Engineers and the Price System, in which he argued that the engineers would have the potential to become a revolutionary class in America. His claim fundamentally questioned, if not entirely rejected, the rationale of a nexus between engineering and business. Veblen explored the cultural contradictions of capitalism (The formulation is borrowed from the title of Daniel Bell’s 1976 book The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism published with BasicBooks and reprinted in 1996 with the same publisher) (the price system) in terms of a contradiction between industry and business. From an anthropological perspective he traced this contradiction to the residual habits of primitive societies. By juxtaposing engineers to the ‘pecuniary class’ Veblen aimed to explore a possible candidate movement such as the one led by progressive engineers with...

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2018

The vested rights of absentee ownership are still embedded in the sentiments of the underlying po... more The vested rights of absentee ownership are still embedded in the sentiments of the underlying population, and still continue to be the Palladium of the Republic; and the assertion is still quite safe that anything like a Soviet of technicians is not a present menace to the vested interests in America. (Veblen 1921, p. 128) The engineer is both a scientist and a business man. (Layton 1971, p. 1) While the systematic monopolization of scientific knowledge by the professionals increased the autonomy of scientists, however, it had the opposite effect upon engineers, tying them to the large corporation. (Noble 1977, p. 43) Questions about the nature, history and context of the engineering-business nexus related to specific times and countries are not new, as evidenced by the quotations given above from three American classics: Thorstein Veblen's The Engineers and

Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is... more Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is more than ever necessary in a society that sees itself not only as open, but indeed as accelerating, in that it holds as a credo that there be unlimited mobility, innovation at any price, and chameleon-like fl exibility." (Mittelstrass 2006: 1) "It is rare for engineering students … to question everything under heaven or earth in the way that good science students will." (C.

2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference, 2008

This article explores the rationale for including in an integrated five-years Masters Engineering... more This article explores the rationale for including in an integrated five-years Masters Engineering programme liberal arts subjects, in particular Philosophy and the History of Science and Technology. We argue that the tools of philosophy should be used to provide additional insight into how engineering was and is 'performed'. We first review the challenge, next we present some results of an empirical case study carried out at AU-IBT in Denmark. The purpose of the case study was to examine a sample of engineering teachers´ attitudes towards the relevance and scope of liberal arts subjects for engineering students. Finally we conclude with a proposal for the inclusion of Philosophy and History of Engineering, Science and Technology in an engineering programme and how this might be done.

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2019

Fascinating and compelling in equal measure this volume presents a critical examination of the mu... more Fascinating and compelling in equal measure this volume presents a critical examination of the multilayered relationships between engineering and business. In so doing the study also stimulates ethical reflection on how these relationships either enhance or inhibit strategies to address vital issues of our time. In the context of geopolitical, economic, and environmental tendencies the authors explore the world that we should want to create and the role of the engineer and the business manager in this endeavor. Throughout this volume the authors identify periods of alignment and periods of tension between engineering and business. They look at focal points of the engineering-business nexus related to the development of capitalism. The book explores past and present movements to reshape, reform, or reject this nexus. The volume is informed by questions of importance for industry as well as for higher education. These are: What kinds of conflict arise for engineers in their attempts t...

Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, 2015

ABSTRACT This inclusive cross-cultural study rethinks the nexus between engineering education and... more ABSTRACT This inclusive cross-cultural study rethinks the nexus between engineering education and context. In so doing the book offers a reflection on contextual boundaries with an overall boundary crossing ambition and juxtaposes important cases of critical participation within engineering education with sophisticated scholarly reflection on both opportunities and discontents. Whether and in what way engineering education is or ought to be contextualized or de-contextualized is an object of heated debate among engineering educators. The uniqueness of this study is that this debate is given comprehensive coverage – presenting both instrumentally inclined as well as radical positions on transforming engineering education. In contextualizing engineering education, this book offers diverse commentary from a range of disciplinary, meta- and interdisciplinary perspectives on how cultural, professional, institutional and educational systems contexts shape histories, structural dynamics, ideologies and challenges as well as new pathways in engineering education. Topics addressed include examining engineering education in countries ranging from India to America, to racial and gender equity in engineering education and incorporating social awareness into the area. Using context as “bridge” this book confronts engineering education head on. Contending engineering ideologies and corresponding views on context are juxtaposed with contending discourses of reform. The uniqueness of the book is that it brings together scholars from the humanities, the social sciences and engineering from Europe – both East and West – with the United States, China, Brazil, India and Australia.

ABSTRACT This second companion volume on engineering studies considers engineering practice inclu... more ABSTRACT This second companion volume on engineering studies considers engineering practice including contextual analyses of engineering identity, epistemologies and values. Key overlapping questions examine such issues as an engineering identity, engineering self-understandings enacted in the professional world, distinctive characters of engineering knowledge and how engineering science and engineering design interact in practice. Authors bring with them perspectives from their institutional homes in Europe, North America, Australia\ and Asia. The volume includes 24 contributions by more than 30 authors from engineering, the social sciences and the humanities. Additional issues the chapters scrutinize include prominent norms of engineering, how they interact with the values of efficiency or environmental sustainability. A concluding set of articles considers the meaning of context more generally by asking if engineers create their own contexts or are they created by contexts. Taken as a whole, this collection of original scholarly work is unique in its broad, multidisciplinary consideration of the changing character of engineering practice.

Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is... more Bildung, i.e. education that goes beyond the needs of the day, and beyond the vocational core, is more than ever necessary in a society that sees itself not only as open, but indeed as accelerating, in that it holds as a credo that there be unlimited mobility, innovation at any price, and chameleon-like fl exibility." (Mittelstrass 2006: 1) "It is rare for engineering students … to question everything under heaven or earth in the way that good science students will." (C.P. is book is concerned with Bildung, with engineers and with engineering education. As observed by Jürgen Mittelstrass, Bildung cannot be instrumentalised, it transcends the needs of the day. Bildung represents a fundamentally critical refl ection on the relationship between the whole and the part and thus serves to give knowledge orientation as to its function in a world which abounds with information. According to C.P. Snow, there is a lack of this kind of critical refl ection in engineering to the detriment of the profession.