Engineering good: how engineering metaphors help us to understand the moral life and change society.
Engineering can learn from ethics, but ethics can also learn from engineering. In this paper, I discuss what engineering metaphors can teach us about practical philosophy. Using metaphors such as calculation, performance, and open source, I articulate two opposing views of morality and politics: one that relies on images related to engineering as science and one that draws on images of engineering practice. I argue that the latter view and its metaphors provide a more adequate way to understand and guide the moral life. Responding to two problems of alienation and taking into account developments such as Fab Lab I then further explore the implications of this view for engineering and society.
Coeckelbergh
Mark
M
Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands. m.coeckelbergh@utwente.nl
D004738:Engineering / Q000941:ethics*; D028663:Ethical Theory; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D010684:Philosophy; D011057:Politics; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000941:ethics; D012586:Science / Q000941:ethics; D012660:Semantics; D012922:Social Change; D013561:Symbolism; D013850:Thinking / Q000941:ethics