The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering (Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy) [1 ed.] 1138244953, 9781138244955

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“This is an amazing collection! Not only is it the first book of its kind, defining the territory of the new and rapidly developing field of philosophy of engineering, it contains chapters by a truly international and multidisciplinary group of scholars. The compilation is rich and exciting, and very timely.” Deborah G. Johnson, Anne Shirley Carter Olsson Professor of Applied Ethics Emeritus, University of Virginia “Neelke Doorn and Diane Michelfelder have curated an impressive body of works that turn the clarifying and critical lens of philosophy upon engineering. This volume begins to reveal the depths of an essential human enterprise, one that philosophers for too long treated as a superficial craft rather than what it is: a creative endeavor of social imagination in action.” Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh “Traditional philosophy of technology largely ignores engineers and engineering, but The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering takes engineers, their methods, their responsibilities, and their future seriously with a world-class collection of spot-on papers sure to stimulate your reflection. Beg, borrow, or steal this volume and start treating the humans and human activity of engineering in a philosophically serious way, today.” David E. Goldberg, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois

THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF ENGINEERING

Engineering has always been a part of human life but has only recently become the subject matter of systematic philosophical inquiry. The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering presents the stateof-the-art of this field and lays a foundation for shaping future conversations within it. With a broad scholarly scope and 55 chapters contributed by both established experts and fresh voices in the field, the Handbook provides valuable insights into this dynamic and fast-growing field. The volume focuses on central issues and debates, established themes, and new developments in: • • • • • • • •

Foundational perspectives Engineering reasoning Ontology Engineering design processes Engineering activities and methods Values in engineering Responsibilities in engineering practice Reimagining engineering

The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering will be of value for both students and active researchers in philosophy of engineering and in cognate fields (philosophy of technology, philosophy of design). It is also intended for engineers working both inside and outside of academia who would like to gain a more fundamental understanding of their particular professional field. The increasing development of new technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, and new interdisciplinary fields, such as human-computer  interaction,  calls not  only for philosophical inquiry but also for engineers and philosophers to work in collaboration with one another. At the same time, the demands on engineers to respond to the challenges of world health, climate change, poverty, and other so-called “wicked problems” have also been on the rise. These factors, together with the fact that a host of questions concerning the processes by which technologies are developed have arisen, make the current Handbook a timely and valuable publication. Diane P. Michelfelder is Professor of Philosophy at Macalester College, USA. Along with philosopher Natasha McCarthy and engineer David E. Goldberg, she edited  Philosophy and Engineering: Reflections on Practice, Principles, and Process (2013). Her most recent book is Philosophy and Engineering: Exploring Boundaries, Expanding Connections, edited with Byron Newberry and Qin Zhu (2016). Neelke  Doorn is Distinguished Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Professor of “Ethics of Water Engineering” at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Recent book publications include co-editing the volumes  Responsible Innovation: Innovative Solutions for Global Issues (2014) and  Early Engagement and New Technologies: Opening up the Laboratory (2013). She is also the author of Water Ethics: An Introduction (2020).

ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOKS IN PHILOSOPHY

Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy are state-of-the-art surveys of emerging, newly refreshed, and important fields in philosophy, providing accessible yet thorough assessments of key problems, themes, thinkers, and recent developments in research. All chapters for each volume are specially commissioned, and written by leading scholars in the field. Carefully edited and organized, Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy provide indispensable reference tools for students and researchers seeking a comprehensive overview of new and exciting topics in philosophy. They are also valuable teaching resources as accompaniments to textbooks, anthologies, and research-orientated publications. Also available: THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF LINGUISTIC REFERENCE Edited by Stephen Biggs and Heimir Geirsson THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF DEHUMANIZATION Edited by Maria Kronfeldner THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF ANARCHY AND ANARCHIST THOUGHT Edited by Gary Chartier and Chad Van Schoelandt THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF ENGINEERING Edited by Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF MODALITY Edited by Otávio Bueno and Scott A. Shalkowski THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF PRACTICAL REASON Edited by Kurt Sylvan and Ruth Chang For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbooksin-Philosophy/book-series/RHP

THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF ENGINEERING

Edited by Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn

First published 2021 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Taylor & Francis The right of Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-24495-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-27650-2 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC

CONTENTS

List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Acknowledgments

xii xiv xv xxiii

Introduction Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn

1

PART I

Foundational Perspectives

9

1 What Is Engineering? Carl Mitcham

11

2 A Brief History of Engineering Jennifer Karns Alexander

25

3 Western Philosophical Approaches and Engineering Glen Miller

38

4 Eastern Philosophical Approaches and Engineering Glen Miller, Xiaowei (Tom) Wang, Satya Sundar Sethy, Fujiki Atsushi

50

5 What Is Engineering Science? Sven Ove Hansson

66

6 Scientific Methodology in the Engineering Sciences Mieke Boon

80

vii

Contents PART II

Engineering Reasoning

95

7 Engineering Design and the Quest for Optimality Maarten Franssen

97

8 Prescriptive Engineering Knowledge Sjoerd Zwart

111

9 Engineering as Art and the Art of Engineering Lara Schrijver

127

10 Creativity and Discovery in Engineering David H. Cropley

138

11 Uncertainty William M. Bulleit

149

12 Scenarios Christian Dieckhoff and Armin Grunwald

160

13 Systems Engineering as Engineering Philosophy Usman Akeel and Sarah Bell

176

14 Assessing Provenance and Bias in Big Data Brent Mittelstadt and Jan Kwakkel

191

PART III

Ontology

207

15 Artifacts Beth Preston

209

16 Engineering Objects Wybo Houkes

222

17 Use Plans Auke Pols

233

18 Function in Engineering Boris Eisenbart and Kilian Gericke

245

19 Emergence in Engineering Peter Simons

263

viii

Contents

20 Towards an Ontology of Innovation: On the New, the Political-Economic Dimension and the Intrinsic Risks Involved in Innovation Processes Vincent Blok

273

PART IV

Engineering Design Processes

287

21 Engineering Design Peter Kroes

289

22 Values and Design Ibo Van de Poel

300

23 Design Methods and Validation Sabine Ammon

315

24 Human-Centred Design and its Inherent Ethical Qualities Marc Steen

328

25 Sustainable Design Steven A. Moore

342

26 Maintenance Mark Thomas Young

356

PART V

Engineering Activities and Methods

369

27 Measurement Lara Huber

371

28 Models in Engineering and Design: Modeling Relations and Directions of Fit Michael Poznic

383

29 Scale Modeling Susan G. Sterrett

394

30 Computer Simulations Hildrun Lampe

408

31 Experimentation Viola Schiaffonati

421

ix

Contents

32 On Verification and Validation in Engineering Francien Dechesne and Tijn Borghuis

435

PART VI

Values in Engineering

447

33 Values in Risk and Safety Assessment Niklas Möller

449

34 Engineering and Sustainability: Control and Care in Unfoldings of Modernity Andy Stirling

461

35 The Role of Resilience in Engineering Neelke Doorn

482

36 Trust in Engineering Philip J. Nickel

494

37 Aesthetics Stefan Koller

506

38 Health Marianne Boenink

521

39 Philosophy of Security Engineering Wolter Pieters

533

PART VII

Responsibilities in Engineering Practice

545

40 Ethical Considerations in Engineering Wade L. Robison

547

41 Autonomy in Engineering Eugene Schlossberger

558

42 Standards in Engineering Paul B. Thompson

569

43 Professional Codes of Ethics Michael Davis

580

44 Responsibilities to the Public—Professional Engineering Societies Joseph Herkert and Jason Borenstein

592

x

Contents

45 Engineering as a Political Practice Govert Valkenburg

607

46 Global Engineering Ethics Pak-Hang Wong

620

47 Engineering Practice and Engineering Policy: The Narrative Form of Engineering Policy Advice Natasha McCarthy

630

PART VIII

Reimagining Engineering

645

48 Feminist Engineering and Gender Donna Riley

647

49 Socially Responsible Engineering Jessica M. Smith and Juan C. Lucena

661

50 Engineering and Social Justice Caroline Baillie

674

51 Engineering and Environmental Justice Benjamin R. Cohen

687

52 Beyond Traditional Engineering: Green, Humanitarian, Social Justice, and Omnium Approaches George D. Catalano 53 Engineering and Contemporary Continental Philosophy of Technology Diane P. Michelfelder 54 Engineering Practice from the Perspective of Methodical Constructivism and Culturalism Michael Funk and Albrecht Fritzsche

700

710

722

55 Reimagining the Future of Engineering Neelke Doorn, Diane P. Michelfelder, Elise Barrella, Terry Bristol, Francien Dechesne, Albrecht Fritzsche, Gearold Johnson, Michael Poznic, Wade L. Robison, Barbara Sain, Taylor Stone, Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl, Steven Umbrello, Pieter E. Vermaas, Richard L. Wilson

736

Index

745

xi

FIGURES

6.1

Hypothetical Deductive method in natural sciences. Schema based on Hempel (1966) 6.2 The B&K method 7.1 Eggert’s belt-and-pulley example 10.1 Change as a driver of problems and solutions 10.2 Five pathways in engineering problem-solving 10.3 Diminishing returns and engineering solutions 10.4 Change and the cycle of replication–incrementation–disruption 12.1 Simplified argumentative structure of a model-based scenario 13.1 Generic systems engineering methodology 13.2 An open system 13.3 Continuum of system complexity 14.1 The data chain 18.1 Black box that causally links an input to a (desired) output 18.2 General process model for system development 18.3 Iterative synthesis and evaluation steps during conceptual design 18.4 Example of a functional structure of a tensile testing machine 18.5 Function decomposition and mapping to function carriers 18.6 Comparison by Stone and Wood (2000) of their Functional Basis with the function taxonomies proposed by Pahl et al. (2007), Hundal (1990), and Altschuller (1999) 18.7 The FBS framework 18.8 Chromosome model 18.9 Schema of reasoning from user goals to required function carriers 18.10 The 5-key-term approach 18.11 Classification of (a) FBS framework, (b) Pahl and Beitz approach, (c) Theory of Domains, and (d) Use case-based reasoning 20.1 Schumpeter’s business cycles 22.1 The operationalization of the values environmental sustainability, safety and health for the case of refrigerant coolants 22.2 Possible values hierarchy for biofuels 23.1 General procedure of systematic design according to VDI 2221

xii

88 89 102 140 141 143 144 164 180 182 183 192 246 247 248 248 249

250 253 254 256 257 258 275 305 307 321

List of Figures

23.2 25.1 25.2 25.3 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 32.1 32.2 32.3 33.1 33.2 36.1 36.2 50.1 52.1 52.2 52.3 52.4 54.1 54.2

Testing as verification and validation in design processes The three-legged stool of sustainability The Planners’ Triangle Example of a fitness landscape Scale modeling in an educational setting Experimental Model Basin, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC—interior view, c. 1900 Postcard of Waterways Experiment Station A worksheet designed for use with middle school students showing how to use your own body to determine the height of a tree, from shadow measurements Verification and validation for the elementary case Verification and validation for multi-stage development Verification and validation for systems of systems The traditional two-stage picture of risk analysis Hansson and Aven’s model of the risk assessment process Diffusion of linear-but-indirect trust in engineering Trust in automation Human rights defenders interviewed by our team Expanding wave from traditional to green engineering Expanding wave from green to humanitarian engineering Expanding wave from humanitarian to engineering for social justice Expanding wave from social justice to omnium engineering Illustration of a family recipe for a common German bean dish Lecture script illustrating genetic editing with scissors

xiii

322 343 348 351 396 398 399 401 436 438 439 450 456 496 499 683 701 703 705 706 728 729

TABLES

7.1 Different types of specifications generated by two basic distinctions 7.2 Overview of acceptable physical values for the design parameters and their assessment values 8.1 Differences between descriptive and perspective knowledge 10.1 Convergent (critical) thinking versus divergent thinking 10.2 The stages of creative problem-solving 10.3 Mapping phases to engineering design models 20.1 Differences between the contemporary, Schumpeterian and ontological concepts of innovation 24.1 Ethical qualities inherent in human-centred design practices 29.1 Generalization of similarity in Euclidean geometry to similarity in physics (mechanics, including heat, fluids, etc.) 29.2 Using dimensionless ratios in scale modeling 32.1 System life cycle processes according to ISO/IEC 15288

xiv

99 106 115 145 146 146 283 337 403 404 436

CONTRIBUTORS

Usman Akeel is Researcher/Lecturer at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Nigeria. He is a registered civil engineer in Nigeria and holds a PhD in engineering sustainability from University College London (UCL), UK. His current research focuses on engineering philosophy and systems thinking. Jennifer Karns Alexander is Director of Graduate Studies in the Program in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at the University of Minnesota, USA, where she is also Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She is the author of The Mantra of Efficiency: From Waterwheel to Social Control (2008), and is completing a manuscript on religion, engineering, and technology since World War II. Sabine Ammon is Professor of Knowledge Dynamics and Sustainability in the Technological Sciences at TU Berlin, Germany, with a focus on philosophy and ethics of design and technology. Recent publications include The Active Image. Architecture and Engineering in the Age of Modeling (coedited with Remei Capdevila Werning, 2017). Fujiki Atsushi is Associate Professor at Kobe City College of Nursing, Japan. His current research interests are engineering ethics, environmental ethics, ethics of environmental health, and engineering education. Caroline Baillie is Professor of Praxis in Engineering and Social Justice at the University of San Diego, USA, and co-founder of ‘Waste for Life’ (http://wasteforlife.org/spt/) and the ESJP network (esjp.org). She has over 200 publications including Green Composites: Waste and Nature-Based Materials for a Sustainable Future (with Randika Jayasinghe, 2017). Elise Barrella is Assistant Professor and Founding Faculty member of the Department of Engineering at Wake Forest University, USA. Her scholarly interests and recent publications focus on sustainability and design education, urban development, and community-engaged projects. Sarah Bell is Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Institute for Environmental Design and Director of the Engineering Exchange at University College London (UCL), UK. Her most recent book was Urban Water Sustainability (2018).

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List of Contributors

Vincent Blok is Associate Professor in the Philosophy Group and the Management Studies Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. His books include Ernst Jünger’s Philosophy of Technology. Heidegger and the Poetics of the Anthropocene (2017). Marianne Boenink is Professor in Ethics of Healthcare at the Department of IQ Healthcare, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on philosophical and ethical challenges posed by the development and use of technology in healthcare, including the visions guiding such innovation (like ‘personalized medicine’ or ‘smart healthcare’). She co-edited the volume Emerging Technologies for Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease. Innovating with Care (2017). Mieke Boon is Professor in Philosophy of Science in Practice at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, where she is dean of the University College ATLAS. She is a core teacher in the philosophy of science and technology and society programs and in the University College ATLAS. Jason Borenstein is Director of Graduate Research Ethics Programs and Associate Director of the Center for Ethics and Technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. His appointment is divided between the School of Public Policy and the Office of Graduate Studies. Tijn Borghuis is Project Manager and Lecturer at the Philosophy and Ethics group of Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. He teaches modelling to engineering students of several BSc and MSc programmes. Terry Bristol is Professor and President, Institute for Science, Engineering and Public Policy, affiliated with Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA. William M. Bulleit is Professor of Structural Engineering at Michigan Tech, USA, a position he has held for 37 years. Prior to coming to Michigan Tech, he designed submarines in Florida and bridges in Washington. Much of his research and teaching has revolved around the need for designers to make decisions under uncertainty. George D. Catalano is Emeritus State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Emeritus SUNY Bartle Professor, Binghamton University, USA. His most recent books include Engineering Ethics: Peace, Justice, and the Earth (second edition, 2014) and Tragedy in the Gulf: A Call for a New Engineering Ethic (2011). Benjamin R. Cohen is Associate Professor of Engineering Studies and Environmental Studies at Lafayette College, USA. Among other works, he is the co-editor (with Gwen Ottinger) of Technoscience and Environmental Justice: Expert Cultures in a Grassroots Movement (2011) and author of Pure Adulteration: Cheating on Nature in the Age of Manufactured Food (2019). David H. Cropley is Professor of Engineering Innovation at the University of South Australia. He is the author or co-author of nine books, including The Psychology of Innovation in Organizations (2015) and Homo Problematis Solvendis—Problem Solving Man: A History of Human Creativity (2019). Michael Davis is Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions and Professor of Philosophy, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA. Among his recent books are Engineering Ethics (2005) and Engineering as a Global Profession (2019).

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List of Contributors

Francien Dechesne is Assistant Professor at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, the Netherlands. She has a background in mathematics, computer science and philosophy, and her research is on responsible innovation in the field of digital technologies. Christian Dieckhoff works at the NOW GmbH in Berlin, Germany, which supports the German government in implementing green transport technologies. He holds a diploma degree in mechanical engineering and a PhD in philosophy of science for a work on energy scenarios in policy advice. Neelke Doorn is Distinguished Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Professor “Ethics of Water Engineering” at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Recent book publications include co-editing the volumes Responsible Innovation: Innovative Solutions for Global Issues (2014) and Early Engagement and New Technologies: Opening Up the Laboratory (2013). She is the author of Water Ethics: An Introduction (2019). Boris Eisenbart is Associate Professor and Course Director for Product Design Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. He is also the Research Director of Swinburne’s Industry 4.0 Testlab focusing on the integration of design, engineering and manufacturing processes through advancing digitalization. Maarten Franssen is Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, where he engages with foundational and methodological issues in the philosophy of science and technology. He trained as a physicist and a historian and obtained a PhD in philosophy. Albrecht Fritzsche is Acting Chair of Technology and Process Management at Ulm University, Germany. He holds doctoral degrees in philosophy and management and worked for many years in the manufacturing industry. His research is focused on innovation studies. Michael Funk is a researcher and lecturer at the Chair of Philosophy of Media and Technology, Institute of Philosophy, and the Research Group Cooperative Systems, Faculty of Computer Science, at the University of Vienna, Austria. His latest publications include Roboter- und Drohnenethik. Eine methodische Einführung (2021). Kilian Gericke is Professor for Product Development at the University of Rostock, Germany. He is an elected member of the advisory board of the Design Society. He is co-editor of the book Pahl/ Beitz: Konstruktionslehre and co-author of the revised VDI 2221 guideline. Armin Grunwald is Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Technology, and Director of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. His recent monograph is Technology Assessment in Practice and Theory (2019). Sven Ove Hansson is Professor in the Philosophy of Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He is member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and past president of the Society for Philosophy and Technology. His recent books include The Role of Technology in Science (2015), The Ethics of Technology. Methods and Approaches (2017) and Technology and Mathematics (2018). Joseph Herkert is Associate Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and Society at North Carolina State University, USA. He is co-editor of The Growing Gap Between Emerging Technologies and Legal-Ethical Oversight (2011) and Editor of Social, Ethical, and Policy Implications of Engineering: Selected Readings (1999).

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List of Contributors

Wybo Houkes is Professor in Philosophy of Science and Technology at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. He is the author of Technical Functions (with Pieter Vermaas, 2010) and numerous publications on the nature of artefacts, technological knowledge, scientific modelling, and evolutionary theories of technology. Lara Huber is Senior Researcher and Lecturer in Philosophy at the Universities of Kiel and Wuppertal, Germany. She is the co-editor of Standardization in Measurement: Philosophical, Historical and Sociological Issues (with Oliver Schlaudt, 2015), and author of books on standardization in science from an epistemological point of view, on relevance and scientific research, on scientific concepts and societal perceptions of normality. Gearold Johnson is Senior Research Scientist at Colorado State University, USA. He is also the Emeritus George T Abell Chair and Professor Emeritus in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His most recent book, co-authored with Thomas J. Siller and Gearold Johnson, is Just Technology: The Quest for Cultural, Economic, Environmental and Technical Sustainability (2018). Stefan Koller is Associate Attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, USA. He holds doctoral degrees in law and philosophy, and co-edits Architecture Philosophy, a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal. He has received the Gibbs Prize in Philosophy, Duns Scotus Prize in Medieval Philosophy, Exhibitioner Award, Scatcherd European Award, and more, all from the University of Oxford. Peter Kroes is Emeritus Professor in the Philosophy of Technology of Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. His most recent book publication is Philosophy of Technology after the Empirical Turn, co-edited with Maarten Franssen, Pieter E. Vermaas, Peter Kroes and Anthonie W.M. Meijers (2016). Jan Kwakkel is Associate Professor in Policy Analysis at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He is interested in quantitative approaches for supporting public decision-making. In his research he uses a broad range of data analytic and simulation modelling techniques. Hildrun Lampe is a PhD student at the High Performance Computing Center (HRLS) in Stuttgart, Germany. In her dissertation, she is concerned with a philosophical reflection of computer simulations in the environmental sciences. Juan C. Lucena is Professor and Director of Humanitarian Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, USA. His recent books include Engineering Education for Social Justice: Critical Explorations and Opportunities (2013), and Engineering Justice: Transforming Engineering Education and Practice (with Jon Leydens, 2017). Natasha McCarthy is a head of policy at the Royal Society, UK, where she leads the Society’s work on data and digital technology. She is author of Engineering: A Beginner’s Guide (2009), a tour of the social, cultural and historical impact of engineering; and a co-editor of Philosophy and Engineering: Reflections on Practice, Principles and Process (2014). Diane P. Michelfelder is Professor of Philosophy at Macalester College, USA. She is a past president of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, and a co-founder of the Forum for Philosophy, Engineering, and Technology (fPET). Her most recent book publication is Philosophy and Engineering: Exploring Boundaries, Expanding Connections, edited with Byron Newberry and Qin Zhu (2017).

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List of Contributors

Glen Miller is Instructional Associate Professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University, USA, where he regularly teaches engineering ethics and cyberethics. His publications include Reimagining Philosophy and Technology, Reinventing Ihde, edited with Ashley Shew (2020). Carl Mitcham is International Distinguished Professor of Philosophy of Technology at Renmin University of China and Emeritus Professor of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the Colorado School of Mines, USA. His publications include Thinking Through Technology (1994) and Steps Toward a Philosophy of Engineering (2020). Brent Mittelstadt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK. He is a philosopher specialising in data ethics in relation to machine learning, automated decision-making, and medical expert systems. Niklas Möller is Professor of Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University, Sweden. His research interest lies in value questions in the philosophy of risk and moral philosophy. He is co-author of The Practical Turn in Political Theory (with Eva Erman, 2018), and Editor-in-Chief of the Handbook of Safety Principles (2018) and has published numerous articles in international peer review journals. Steven A. Moore is Bartlett Cocke Regents Professor Emeritus in Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. His most recent books include Pragmatic Sustainability: Dispositions for Critical Adaptation (2nd edition, 2016) and, with Barbara B. Wilson, Questioning Architectural Judgment: The Problem of Codes in the United States (2014). Philip J. Nickel is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Ethics at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. He is the author of a number of articles on the philosophy of trust, testimonial reliance, and other phenomena involving human dependence. Wolter Pieters is Professor of Work, Organisations and Digital Technology at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research focuses on cyber risk management, human factors in cybersecurity, and philosophy and ethics of security. Auke Pols is Postdoctoral Researcher in Responsible Research and Innovation at Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands. His interests include the conceptualization of actions performed with technical artefacts and ethical aspects of new energy technologies. Michael Poznic is Postdoctoral Researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, at the Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis. His most recent publication is, “Thin versus Thick Accounts of Scientific Representation,” in Synthese. Beth Preston is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of Georgia, USA. She is the author of A Philosophy of Material Culture: Action, Function, and Mind (2013), and of the ‘Artifact’ entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2018). Donna Riley is Kamyar Haghighi Head and Professor in the School of Engineering Education and at Purdue University. She is the author of Engineering and Social Justice and Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st Century Energy Problems (2011). Wade L. Robison is the Ezra A. Hale Professor of Applied Ethics at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has published extensively in philosophy of law, David Hume, and practical and

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List of Contributors

professional ethics. Among his books is Decisions in Doubt: The Environment and Public Policy (1994), which won the Nelson A. Rockefeller Prize in Social Science and Public Policy. His latest is Ethics Within Engineering (2016). Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl is Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, USA, specializing in earthquake engineering and infrastructure resilience and sustainability. His philosophic interests concern technology, uncertainty, and the good life. He is vice chair of the Engineering Philosophy Committee of the Structural Engineering Institute. Barbara Sain is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Her teaching and research focus on Christian theology and on the interdisciplinary connections between theology and engineering. Viola Schiaffonati is Associate Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria of Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Her main research interests include the philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence and robotics and the philosophy of computing sciences, with particular attention to the epistemology of experiments in the engineering sciences. Eugene Schlossberger is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Purdue University Northwest, USA. His publications include A Holistic Approach to Rights (2008), The Ethical Engineer (1993), and Moral Responsibility and Persons (1992). Lara Schrijver is Professor in Architecture at the University of Antwerp Faculty of Design Sciences, Belgium. She is editor for KNOB Bulletin. In 2016 she co-edited the volume Autonomous Architecture in Flanders, and she was co-editor for the annual review Architecture in the Netherlands from 2016–2019. Satya Sundar Sethy is Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai (India). His publications include Contemporary Ethical Issues in Engineering (edited, 2015), Meaning and Language (2016), and Higher Education and Professional Ethics (edited, 2017). Peter Simons is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, specialising in metaphysics and Central European philosophy. His most recent co-authored books are Joint Ventures in Philosophy (with Edgar Morscher, 2014), and Reflections on Free Logic (with Karel Lambert and Edgar Morscher, 2017). Jessica M. Smith is Associate Professor of Engineering, Design and Society and Director of Humanitarian Engineering Graduate Programs at the Colorado School of Mines, USA. An anthropologist, she is author of Extracting Accountability: Engineers and Corporate Social Responsibility (2021) and Mining Coal and Undermining Gender (2014). Marc Steen is a senior research scientist at TNO, a Dutch research and technology organization. He earned MSc, PDEng and PhD degrees in industrial design engineering at Delft University of Technology. His mission is to support organizations to use technologies in ways that help to create a just society and to promote people’s flourishing.

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List of Contributors

Susan G. Sterrett is the Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science at Wichita State University, USA, and author of Wittgenstein Flies a Kite: A Story of Models of Wings and Models of the World (2005). Andy Stirling is Professor of Science and Technology Policy and co-directs the ESRC STEPS Centre at the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University. He researches and engages on issues of uncertainty, sustainability, power and democracy around science and technology. Taylor Stone is cross-appointed as a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Values, Technology and Innovation at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. His current research focuses on engineering ethics education and the philosophy of the city. He is co-editor of Technology and the City: Towards a Philosophy of Urban Technologies (2021). Paul B. Thompson is the W.K. Kellogg Professor of Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics at Michigan State University. He has served in advisory capacity to for-profit, non-profit and governmental organizations including the United Egg Producers, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. His book The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics was reissued in an updated edition in 2017. Steven Umbrello currently serves as the Managing Director at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, Turin, Italy. His primary research interests are on the ethics and design of emerging technologies, primary artificial intelligence systems and advanced nanotechnology. Govert Valkenburg is a researcher at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. He trained in electrical engineering and philosophy and now works within the multidisciplinary field of science and technology studies. He has contributed to many books, including the recent Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems (2018). Ibo Van de Poel is Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Professor in Ethics and Technology at the Technical University Delft in the Netherlands. Recent books he co-authored or co-edited include New Perspectives on Technology in Society: Experimentation Beyond the Laboratory (2018) and Moral Responsibility and the Problem of Many Hands (2015). Pieter E. Vermaas is Associate Professor in Philosophy at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. His research focuses on the methodology and epistemology of design. Recent publications are Handbook of Ethics, Values and Technological Design (2015) with Jeroen van den Hoven and Ibo Van de Poel, and Advancements in the Philosophy of Design (2018) with Stéphane Vial. Xiaowei (Tom) Wang is Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China. His research focuses on the philosophy and ethics of technology. He is the author of Human Right and Internet Access: A Philosophical Investigation (2016) and, together with Pak-Hang Wong, editor of Harmonious Technology: A Confucian Ethics of Technology (2021). Richard L. Wilson is Professor at Towson University and Research Fellow in the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics at the University of Baltimore, USA. His latest book is, Glossary of Cyber Warfare, Cyber Crime and Cyber Security (coauthored with Dan Remenyi, 2018).

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List of Contributors

Pak-Hang Wong is Research Associate at the Department of Informatics, Universität Hamburg, Germany. He has published articles on philosophy of technology, ethics of emerging technologies, and Confucian philosophy, and is the co-editor of Well-Being in Contemporary Society (2015). Mark Thomas Young is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bergen, Norway. His research covers two fields: the philosophy of technology, where he focuses on technologies in use; and the history and philosophy of science, where he explores instruments, craft practices and tacit knowledge in the early modern period. Sjoerd Zwart is Assistant Professor at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. His current research interests include methodology of and values in engineering and design. He coedited, with Léna Soler, Vincent Israel-Jost, and Michael Lynch, Science After the Practice Turn (2014); and co-authored, with Ibo Van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers, Moral Responsibility and the Problem of Many Hands (2015).

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Wherever we find a machine, the pioneering philosopher of technology Ernst Kapp once observed, we find an extension of the human hand. This Handbook has benefited from many who have lent their hands to its development. We are particularly grateful to our editor at Routledge, Andrew Beck, for his interest, enthusiasm, and support throughout this project. It was truly a pleasure to work with him. We are also grateful to the three anonymous reviewers of our proposal whose valuable suggestions and comments bettered this work as a whole. For giving us the opportunity to “jumpstart” the final chapter of this volume by organizing a pre-fPET 2018 workshop, our thanks go to the meeting’s organizers: Zach Pirtle, Guru Madhaven, and David Tomblin. A Wallace Scholarly Activities from Macalester College allowed Diane to come to the Netherlands so we could bypass Skype and work together on the Handbook at a critical point. Our heartfelt thanks also goes out to all the authors represented in this volume for participating in this endeavor, sharing their insights, and helping to move forward the field of philosophy of engineering. Lastly, we want to extend our appreciation to the readers of this book. As you look through its pages, we hope it will prove handy in inspiring your own reflection and research.

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INTRODUCTION Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn

As recently as twenty years ago, this Handbook would have been unimaginable. From an academic standpoint, sustained philosophical inquiry into engineering in the form of a philosophy of engineering, as Ibo Van de Poel pointed out in his introduction to Philosophy and Engineering: An Emerging Agenda (2010), did not yet even exist. The reasons for this surge and maturation of interest can be tied directly to the myriad of ways in which engineering innovations are directly responsible for transforming the social fabric and established institutions of everyday life. These ways are not simply a matter of having more electric vehicles on the highways or relying on social media to get in touch with friends instead of talking to them on the phone. They are more a matter of simultaneous systemic shifts in agency, as decision-making is transferred from humans to algorithmic processes; in responsibility for these decisions; and in how individual artifacts are linked and networked together. The electric vehicle is not just a means of transportation, but a means of data collection and energy storage. Social media are not just a means of staying in touch with others but also ways of “curating” the news and other information that reach the user. These widespread shifts have prompted the need not simply for additional reflection on engineering, but also for an intensive conceptual and methodological understanding of the engineering-related activities and practices leading to them, as well as their implications for the future. The purpose of The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering aligns directly with this state of affairs. In one sense our purpose in this Handbook is to present an in-depth look at what has now been imagined under the name of the philosophy of engineering. It intends to show the state of the art of a field of philosophical inquiry focused on an endeavor which is entangled with the sciences, mathematics, social sciences, design, and art-making activities. In another sense our aim is to bring out the thematic “infrastructure” associated with the philosophy of engineering, a spectrum of questions that surround these themes, and theoretical debates and differences of perspectives that have arisen in the course of addressing them. Our aim is decidedly not, though, to resolve any of these particular contestations. We want to show their richness as well as their urgency, an urgency driven not simply by intellectual curiosity but also, given the recent scandals from Volkswagen, Cambridge Analytica, and other engineering companies, by an increasing unease and questioning of engineering not only on the part of the general public but also by some engineers themselves (cf. Floridi et al. 2018; Hecht et al. 2018). In thinking about how to organize the contents of this Handbook, we were guided by each of the aspects of its overall purpose as just described. The Handbook is divided into eight parts: (1) foundational perspectives; (2) engineering reasoning; (3) ontology; (4) engineering design processes; (5) engineering

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Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn

activities and methods; (6) values in engineering; (7) responsibilities in engineering practice; and (8) reimagining engineering. As this structure indicates, the volume moves from the consideration of more methodological issues to ones that are more value-laden. While this style of organizing the volume was intentional, it also carries with it the appearance of being quite traditional. But, one sign of just how rapidly the field of philosophy of engineering has developed is that some subjects within it have already reached almost a canonical status, while others are in more preliminary stages. In each of the sections of this Handbook, we aimed to include treatments of both. The Handbook begins with coverage of foundational perspectives, starting with a chapter on what might be considered the most basic question within the philosophy of engineering, namely, what is engineering itself? (Chapter 1, Carl Mitcham). As Mitcham shows, although the question “What is engineering?” might seem to be open to a single answer, the question itself is not so simple, and so a single answer is not possible given the variety of perspectives on this question. He explores a representation of answers to this question from both engineering and philosophical domains, with an eye to identifying their individual strengths and weaknesses. The section moves from this question to a succinct historical overview of engineering that looks at its global development, the beginnings of engineering as a profession, and contemporary engineering practices in the context of different nation-states (Chapter 2, Jennifer Karns Alexander). Glen Miller (Chapter 3) aims to put Western philosophical traditions and the philosophy of engineering into dialogue with one another for the enrichment of both. Chapter 4 (Glen Miller, Xiaowei (Tom) Wang, Satya Sundar Sethy, and Fujiki Atsushi) explores the relationships among some Eastern philosophical traditions and the development of engineering within the context of the state. From the beginning, a key issue within the philosophy of engineering has been to show how the engineering sciences can be distinguished from other branches of science. Sven Ove Hansson (Chapter 5) addresses this issue by showing how the unique epistemological and ontological perspectives within the engineering sciences put these sciences on a par with natural, social, behavioral, and medical science. Based on a comparison between the phenomena in engineering sciences and natural sciences, Mieke Boon (Chapter 6) proposes a methodology for how scientific models of phenomena are constructed in engineering, which is on par with the well-known hypothetical-deductive methodology in the natural sciences. Part II takes up the topic of engineering reasoning, taken in a broad sense to be the steps involved in conceptualizing and framing an engineering problem, including the role of engineering knowledge in this process. This section begins with two foundational chapters, “Engineering Design and the Quest for Optimality” (Chapter 7, Maarten Franssen) and “Prescriptive Engineering Knowledge” (Chapter 8, Sjoerd Zwart), that describe as well as critically engage with some conventional assumptions about engineering reasoning. Franssen questions the claim that optimality can be a goal of engineering design, while Zwart argues that prescriptive knowledge, defined as a justified and effective belief, is always involved in the solution of an engineering problem. Other chapters in Part II serve to disrupt the conventional view of engineering reasoning as a step-by-step process of thinking by highlighting the place of art, creativity, heuristics, and uncertainty as key dimensions of engineering reasoning. In “Engineering as Art and the Art of Engineering” (Chapter 9) Lara Schrijver takes a historical perspective to show key ties between art and engineering, questioning the wisdom of seeing art and engineering as discrete disciplines. In “Creativity and Discovery in Engineering” (Chapter 10), David H. Cropley shows how, in a world of rapid and ubiquitous change, engineering reasoning requires a combination of critical thinking—i.e. logic, analysis, and evaluation—and also creative thinking—i.e. novelty, unconventionality, and flexibility. Like Schrijver, he argues for a reemphasis on creative thinking in engineering education. William Bulleit (“Uncertainty”, Chapter 11) implicitly underscores the importance of imagination in engineering reasoning by stressing that a new engineering “mindset” is required for the design of complex and complex adaptive systems. Continuing with the theme of uncertainty, Christian Dieckhoff and Armin Grunwald (Chapter 12) offer an overview of scenarios as ways of

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Introduction

developing actions to shape the future and also to cope with the uncertainties that the future poses. In their contribution, Usman Akeel and Sarah Bell (Chapter 13) also call attention to uncertainty as one of the considerations to take into account in planning and decision-making. The primary point of their chapter, though, is to build a case for thinking of systems engineering as engineering philosophy and to show the advantages that such an identification brings. As contemporary engineering reasoning is increasingly reliant on data analytics, Part II ends with an examination of the challenges involved in a variety of strategies of dealing with bias in big data analytics (Chapter 14, Brent Mittelstadt and Jan Kwakkel). With Part III, the volume turns to consider issues within the ontology of engineering: What comes out of a design process? Part III begins with Beth Preston’s “Artifacts” (Chapter 15) which brings insights from contemporary philosophical discussion of artifacts into the discussion of artifacts in engineering, while also bringing out what the philosophy of engineering might offer to the wider discussion of artifacts in philosophy. In a similar vein, the next chapter, “Engineering Objects” (Chapter 16, Wybo Houkes), argues that a consideration of the full spectrum of the objects of engineering requires going beyond the conventional lens of analytic ontology, which looks at these objects as de-contextualized from their practical contexts of use. How this contextualization takes place is the topic of the next two chapters. Auke Pols (Chapter 17) provides an ontological perspective on use plans as the objects of engineering design. While Chapter 15 focuses on the artifacts that come out of a design process and Chapter 17 on what users do when they use these artifacts, Chapter 18 (“Function in Engineering”, Boris Eisenbart and Kilian Gericke) focuses on the functions of an artifact as a means to represent and thus comprehend a system under development at an abstract level. Stressing that there is no single concept of emergence, “Emergence in Engineering” (Chapter 19, Peter Simons) explains how emergence can best be understood as the occurrence of certain novel and initially unexpected properties of complex engineering systems that are unpredicted, unexplained, or irreducible on the basis of the simpler parts of those systems. In keeping with the theme of complexity, Part III’s concluding chapter, “Towards an Ontology of Innovation” (Chapter 20, Vincent Blok) draws on the history of philosophy to reveal innovation to be both a constructive and deconstructive concept, a disclosure which serves as a basis for questioning the “techno-economic” paradigm that has come to dominate how innovation is frequently thought of today. With Part IV, the focus shifts to engineering design processes. The first chapter, “Engineering Design” (Chapter 21, Peter Kroes), looks at a variety of fundamental issues within engineering design while presenting a challenge to two accepted ideas. Looking at how engineers talk about their designs challenges the conventional distinction between facts and values; and investigating the nature of technical artifacts challenges the idea that they can be understood as the “embodiment” of a design itself. Ibo Van de Poel, in his chapter “Values and Design” (Chapter 22) notes that while engineers and designers have obligations to address values in a systematic way in the design process, there are a number of challenges that arise. Van de Poel turns his attention to several of these challenges and proposes how they might be addressed, including the challenges of how to deal with conflicting values and with value change. Subsequent chapters in Part IV also point out the complexity involved in design methods in general as well as with respect to particular methods such as human-centered design (Chapter 24, Marc Steen). “Design Methods and Validation” (Chapter 23, Sabine Ammon), for instance, shows the limitations of a decontextualized, “one-size-fits-all” approach to design methods, underscoring how different phases and different domains of design call for different methods. The chapter “Sustainable Design” (Chapter 25, Steven A. Moore) makes a strong case for questioning the “modernist” concept of sustainability, defending the idea that this theoretical approach is inextricably interconnected with knowledge from other disciplines and so must be receptive to them. In Chapter 26 (“Maintenance”), Mark Thomas Young argues that maintenance should get a more prominent place in the study of engineering. Recognizing the temporal nature of technologies would allow us to appreciate the true character of maintenance as a creative and transformative

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Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn

technical activity upon which the efficiency and reliability of technologies often depend, and give us a richer understanding of engineering practice itself. Part V is devoted to engineering activities and methods, starting off with Lara Huber’s chapter on the activity and method of measurement (Chapter 27). Huber takes up both the goals of measurement as well as uncertainty and other challenges to it. While not focused on modeling itself, this chapter introduces modeling as a specific activity within engineering and so sets the stage for the other chapters in Part V, which are all implicitly or explicitly related to modeling and ways to improve the accuracy of engineering models to represent aspects of reality. Building on the notion of “direction of fit”, the chapter “Models in Engineering and Design: Modeling Relations and Directions of Fit” (Chapter 28, Michael Poznic) shows the richness of different uses of models and explicitly questions the very assumption that models are intended only to provide an accurate representation of reality. The next two chapters look at two specific types of models: scale models (Chapter 29, Susan G. Sterrett) and various kinds of computer models (Chapter 30, Hildrun Lampe). Sterrett illustrates the complexity of scale modeling, which goes much further than simply shrinking the object to a smaller size while keeping geometrical similarity. In a similar vein, Lampe challenges the lay understanding of computer simulations as mere calculations, bringing out their complexity, for instance, by showing how computer simulations are both similar to and different from thought experiments and laboratory experiments. Experimentation is the main focus of Chapter 31, by Viola Schiaffonati. Schiaffonati considers the plurality of approaches to experimentation as revealed in computer science and engineering, and presents the idea of an “explorative experiment” as a way of showing the difference between experiments in engineering and the natural sciences. The last chapter of Part V discusses the epistemic activities of verification and validation as well as contemporary challenges, especially in relation to the growing importance of formal verification methods in digital technologies (Chapter 32, Francien Dechesne and Tijn Borghuis). While Part V ended with a discussion of methods to ensure epistemic values in engineering, Part VI picks up with a consideration of a variety of non-epistemic values central to engineering practices. Chapter 33, by Niklas Möller, focuses on risk assessment, showing how it is unavoidably value-laden, and so drawing a contrast to the received view which considers risk assessment to be a purely scientific activity. In showing how non-epistemic values are an integral part of risk assessment, Möller brings out how their presence ultimately calls for transparency. Transparency also features prominently in the chapters “Trust in Engineering” (Chapter 36, Philip J. Nickel) and “Philosophy of Security Engineering” (Chapter 39, Wolter Pieters). Whereas engineers are traditionally regarded as trustworthy professionals who “stand behind” their products, the rise of automated systems, which invite the trust of those who rely upon them, brings added complexity. Nickel proposes grounds for when trust in automated systems is justified, including hypothetical transparency. A defining characteristic of security engineering (Chapter 39, Wolter Pieters) is that it requires dealing with adversaries and adversarial risk. This immediately raises questions for transparency, as the transparency needed to create trust may make technologies thereby also more vulnerable to malicious attacks. One of the key debates in security engineering is therefore on whether security measures should be obscure (“secret security”) or made explicit (“transparent security”). Other non-epistemic values considered in Part VI are sustainability, resilience, health, and aesthetics. Andy Stirling (Chapter 34) analyzes sustainability in the context of modernity, showing that while important to pursue due to the failure to control environmental degradation, sustainability itself has become another countervailing effort at control. Stirling argues that control should be replaced by a more caring approach that recognizes the inherent political dimensions of sustainability itself. Chapters 35 and 38 both ask the fundamental question what it means to function well, be it for sociotechnical systems or for human beings. Neelke Doorn (Chapter 35) focuses on resilience engineering as a new approach to managing risks. The chapter shows that, though based on a fundamentally different view of how systems function, measures taken in the context of safety management

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Introduction

and those taken in the context of resilience engineering may not be so different after all. Most strikingly, resilience engineering puts greater emphasis on how well a system is able to deal with and adapt to changing circumstances. Where resilience and safety are closely linked to their opposite (i.e. risk), the meaning of health (Chapter 38) is also closely intertwined with the meaning of three different concepts that can be interpreted as the opposite of health: disease, illness, and sickness. Marianne Boenink shows how the emergence of technologies in healthcare has narrowed health to “absence of disease”, marginalizing experiences of illness and sickness. Stefan Koller (Chapter 37) discusses how the fact that recent aesthetics has widened its scope of investigation beyond the traditional study of artworks and their beauty opens possibilities for it to contribute to the philosophy of engineering, through offering perspectives on whether engineered objects are also works of art and whether they can and ought to be experienced aesthetically. Part VII takes an in-depth look at the “public-facing” responsibilities of engineers. “Ethical considerations in engineering” (Chapter 40, Wade L. Robison) shows how stages in the engineering design process are implicitly value-laden and argues that this should be made more explicit, particularly in the training of future engineers, so that they could better anticipate possible “downstream” adverse consequences of their work. “Autonomy in Engineering” (Chapter 41, Eugene Schlossberger) shows the broad extent to which this value plays a role in engineering decision-making, ranging from the need for engineers to have and to respect autonomy, to a host of issues raised by autonomous machines, including the question of when to give them rights. Paul B. Thompson (Chapter 42) shows how technical standards, although clearly having positive ethical valence in that they significantly lower the social costs of engineering systems, may bias engineering practice toward certain powerful individuals, firms, and even nations. Standard setting for Thompson is thus not simply a technical but also a morally related practice. Where Chapter 42 focuses on norms that apply to products, work processes, or designs, Michael Davis in Chapter 43 discusses the professional codes of ethics that apply to the people and organizations working on these products and designs and in these work processes. He provides an overview of what role these codes play in professional engineering today and sketches how they might evolve. From these chapters, Part VII goes on to look at these “public facing” responsibilities in a more collective light, including the responsibilities of engineering societies and the responsibilities of engineering within a political context. Joseph Herkert and Jason Borenstein (Chapter 44) survey the history of professional and quasi-professional engineering societies, and argue that professional societies need to continue to take leadership in articulating the social responsibilities of engineers with regard to the development of AI and other emerging technologies. In Chapter 45, Govert Valkenburg analyzes engineering as a political practice and the implications this has for engineering and innovation practices. It is critical, Valkenburg proposes, for engineers to recognize that these practices are rooted in particular epistemologies, themselves not value-free but political, which serve to privilege certain points of view in agenda setting. The question of engineering responsibilities is opened up in an even wider aperture than in the previous chapters in Part VII by Pak-Hang Wong (Chapter 46) and Natasha McCarthy (Chapter 47). Wong finds the conventional approach to “global engineering ethics” as rooted in cross-cultural norms to be insufficient. He argues for a more ambitious understanding that would look to promote well-being via engineering, involving increased collaboration among engineers, philosophers, and social scientists. In her contribution, McCarthy draws upon accounts of narrative explanation in order to highlight the distinctive role that engineers, as contrasted with other professionals, can play in policymaking. She backs up her claim that engineering policy advice has a narrative form with several illustrations, including the Internet of Things and greenhouse gas removal. The Handbook concludes with Part VIII, on reimagining engineering itself. In some sense, engineering is always a work in progress, but in Part VIII, how that work might be taken up so as to make sure that all can benefit from it becomes an intentional subject of questioning and reflection.

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Diane P. Michelfelder and Neelke Doorn

“Feminist Engineering and Gender” (Chapter 48, Donna Riley) looks toward a dramatic re-shaping of engineering, grounded in critiques of masculinist engineering, which uses feminist perspectives that take account of lived experiences to reconfigure engineering ontologies, epistemologies, and ethics. In Chapter 49, Jessica M. Smith and Juan Lucena similarly critique the established framework of socially responsible engineering within the corporate realm, arg