ABSTRACT
Engineers deal with human-necessitated changes to the natural environment by means of engineering design and production. Engineering is the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to invent, design, build, maintain, research, and improve structures, machines, devices, systems, materials, and processes. Engineering came into existence from the very early time after the evolution of humankind. Ancient philosophers like Thales of Miletus (620–546 BC) investigated engineering along with history, science, mathematics, geography, and politics (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). However, in the last several centuries, neither philosophy paid much attention to engineering nor engineering paid much attention to philosophy. By and large, engineers have tended to ignore philosophical analysis and reflection as trivial to engineering practice. Some exceptions to this rule can be seen in engineers and philosophers like Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Philosophers too did not make significant efforts to appreciate and assess the role of engineers in the advancement of the society and the world. Engineering and philosophy were almost mutually exclusive domains and were treated as if they did not have much in common between them. With rapid advancement in engineering in the modern era, the philosophy of engineering dealing with the ethics, ontology, and epistemology of engineering is emerging. The philosophy of engineering considers what engineering is, what engineers do, and how they impact the society. The engineering of artifacts has implications that extend into areas like psychology, finance, and sociology and should take into consideration the conditions of manufacture, use, and disposal. This should compel the philosophers to study the impact of engineering.
