1. Translations of technology and the future of engineering – an introduction
2. “The One, the Few or the Many?”: Using Independence as a Strategy in Engineering Development and Modeling
3. Practical Inference—a Formal Analysis
4. Intuition and Ineffability: Tacit Knowledge and Engineering Design
5. The Engineering Knowledge Research Program
6. Philosophy of Engineering and the Quest for a Novel Notion of Experimentation
7. Demarcating Simulation
8. Three Stages of Technical Artifacts’ Life Cycle: Based on a Four Factors Theory
9. Métis: Reconfiguring the Philosophy of Engineering
10. Thorstein B. Veblen's Philosophy of Technology and Modern Capitalism
11. Energy technologies and human well-being. Using sustainable design for the energy transition
12. Technology, Society, and Survival
13. Manufacturing with a big M – The Grand Challenges of Engineering in Digital Societies
14. Fostering Subjectivity in Engineering Education: Philosophical Framework and Pedagogical Strategies
15. Managing the State of the Art of Engineering: Learning from Medicine
16. What Ethics Owes Engineering
17. New Trends in Engineering Ethics - A Japanese Perspective
18. Nietzsche, Postphenomenology, and Nihilism-Technology Relations
19. Assisting Ourselves to Death - A philosophical reflection on lifting a finger with advanced assistive systems
20. Engineering for the Other: An Existential Examination of the Engineer’s Role in Privacy by Design
Albrecht Fritzsche holds doctoral degrees in philosophy and management and worked for many years in the manufacturing industry. He teaches innovation studies at the Institute of Information Systems of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. His research is focused on collaboration practices, mediated action and indeterminacy patterns in the design and management of technical change and innovation.
Sascha Julian Oks graduated from University of Bayreuth and University of Stellenbosch with a Master of Science in business administration. He works as a research associate and doctoral student at the Institute of Information Systems of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. His research and teaching focuses on the field of industrial cyber-physical systems.
In a world permeated by digital technology, engineering is involved in every aspect of human life. Engineers address a wider range of design problems than ever before, raising new questions and challenges regarding their work, as boundaries between engineering, management, politics, education and art disappear in the face of comprehensive socio-technical systems. It is therefore necessary to review our understanding of engineering practice, expertise and responsibility.
This book advances the idea that the future of engineering will not be driven by a static view of a closed discipline, but rather will result from a continuous dialogue between different stakeholders involved in the design and application of technical artefacts. Based on papers presented at the 2016 conference of the forum for Philosophy, Engineering and Technology (fPET) in Nuremberg, Germany, the book features contributions by philosophers, engineers and managers from academia and industry, who discuss current and upcoming issues in engineering from a wide variety of different perspectives. They cover topics such as problem solving strategies and value-sensitive design, experimentation and simulation, engineering knowledge and education, interdisciplinary collaboration, sustainability, risk and privacy.
The different contributions in combination draw a comprehensive picture of efforts worldwide to come to terms with engineering, its foundations in philosophy, the ethical problems it causes, and its effect on the ongoing development of society.