with this post from 2019, four years after my previous and final post as Literally Engineering, I started my journey into the philosophy of and around engineering. Posts became more infrequent, but I’m glad I made the switch, since the philosophical perspective(s) has enriched my career
What has philosophy got to do with engineering?
Philosophy and engineering: oil and water. They can sit in parallel to each other, never really interacting:
Depending on your perspective, the layers might be the other way around: philosophy “supporting” engineering:
Of course, Philosophy could be viewed as being the basis for everything. Without philosophy we wouldn’t have created mathematics, logic… (just putting this perspective out there!)
Now, if someone is willing to add some energy into the system, and some additional mixing agents, like ideas, then stir things up, we can create an emulsion:
Some emulsions are stupendously useful (like paint), others… less so.
I’m guessing that an engineering-philosophy emulsion will end up on the not-so-useful end of the scale, but for some not really fathomable reason, I’m willing to try. But why…? That’s something I’ll try to answer with this blog.
There’s the old adage (with a million variations) that an engineer needs a philosopher like a bird needs an aerodynamicist. The bird will fly regardless - but perhaps we, if not the bird, can learn something along the way.
