Towards a philosophy of engineering

Author

Troxell, Wade O. ; Troxell, Graeme W.

Author_Institution

Coll. of Eng., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

23-24 May 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

“Design as exploration” model is used to describe a generalized design approach focused on a synthesis process. We posit that design synthesis is the differentiating element that separates engineering as fundamentally different from the physical sciences. As such, it is design synthesis that is necessary and sufficient component to a philosophy of engineering. With this end in mind, design as exploration is used as a framework looking towards developing a philosophy of engineering. Design synthesis and the design as exploration model form the basis for a philosophy of engineering. In this paper, we present thoughts and reasons as to why design synthesis, as an embodiment of intelligence, is key to a philosophy of engineering.

Keywords

product design; design as exploration model; design synthesis; engineering philosophy; Abstracts; Couplings; Design methodology; Educational institutions; Knowledge engineering; Space exploration; design as exploration; design synthesis; embodied intelligence; philosophy of engineering;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering, 2014 IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ETHICS.2014.6893389

Filename

6893389