Philosophy and Engineering Education. A Review of Certain Developments in the Field

In 2005 a review of engineering education publications in the area of philosophy and engineering showed that the majority were concerned with the role of and teaching of ethics. There were some in which the term philosophy was used to explain the rationale behind new programmes. One or two discussed the relevance of philosophy to engineering education, and Koen had just published his major discourse on method. Since then there has been a major thrust to develop a philosophy of engineering that is distinct from the philosophy of science. Much attention has focused on the differences between engineering, science and technology. This movement has had support from the lead professional academies in a number of countries (e.g. China, The Netherlands, the UK and the US). It has inspired seminars and a major international meeting in the Netherlands. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the more than 100 small and large published contributions during the last three years. No attempt is made to review all-of them. The purpose is to give the flavour of the debate. It is clear that the mingling of engineering and philosophy raises profound issues and creates great challenges that obligate a response from the engineering community. Many of the publications have something to say about either the curriculum or instruction but they do not draw on the philosophy of education. There is a need for the two philosophies to come together to create a more informed critique of engineering education.