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The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities

The 2nd International Conference on the Roles of Humanities and Social Science in Engineering (ICoHSE 2010) organized by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), 12th - 14th November 2010 at Bayview Beach Resort, Penang, Malaysia.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Strongman, Luke, Dr.
Other Authors: Luke.Strongman@OpenPolytechnic.ac.nz
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) 2011
Subjects:
Engineering
Humanities
Science and technology
International Conference on the Roles of Humanities and Social Science in Engineering (ICoHSE 2010)
Social sciences
Online Access:http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/xmlui/handle/123456789/11514
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spelling my.unimap-115142011-04-09T01:03:32Z The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities Strongman, Luke, Dr. Luke.Strongman@OpenPolytechnic.ac.nz Engineering Humanities Science and technology International Conference on the Roles of Humanities and Social Science in Engineering (ICoHSE 2010) Social sciences The 2nd International Conference on the Roles of Humanities and Social Science in Engineering (ICoHSE 2010) organized by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), 12th - 14th November 2010 at Bayview Beach Resort, Penang, Malaysia. Recent critical focus on the anthropogenic arguments regarding the threats to the sustainability of biosphere highlight the role of engineering in maintaining the structural integrity of the human environment. However, the discipline of engineering is not without larger contextual and methodological problems that tend to undermine the perception of its benefit to society. These include tendencies towards utilitarianism, the irreconcilability of means vs. ends rationale, and the potential for difference-blind solutions to technical problems which ignore the possible harmful effects on the environment which extend beyond in-built cost-benefit analyses. This paper intends to reconcile scientific and humanistic views through a philosophical inquiry and argues that engineering is informed by a context that requires a counter-balancing perspective which accommodates holism, environmental compatibility, lateral and longer-term thinking as well as awareness of humanity, culture and society. Inclusion of humanities subjects within the engineering curriculum positively underscores human factors in technological problems and solutions and equips engineers with a cultural vocabulary and understanding. The argument will be made that a relationship between the humanities and engineering that resembles the Renaissance concept of the ‘artifex’ (or the attempt to harmonise the human and the technological) is both necessary and desirable for the enhancement, understanding and development of both disciplines. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates ways in which basic philosophical principles can contribute to critical thinking within the engineering discipline. This paper uses three humanities texts, Max Frisch’s Homo Faber (1959), Don de Lillo’s The Body Artist (2001), and the film Contact (1997) based on Carl Sagan’s book (1985) to problematise issues of technology and humanism and to explore the relationship of engineering to the humanities. 2011-04-09T01:03:32Z 2011-04-09T01:03:32Z 2010-11-12 Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/11514 en Proceedings of the International Conference on the Roles of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Engineering 2010 (ICoHSE 2010) Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) Centre for Communication Skills and Entrepreneurship
institution Universiti Malaysia Perlis
building UniMAP Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Perlis
content_source UniMAP Library Digital Repository
url_provider http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/
language English
topic Engineering
Humanities
Science and technology
International Conference on the Roles of Humanities and Social Science in Engineering (ICoHSE 2010)
Social sciences
spellingShingle Engineering
Humanities
Science and technology
International Conference on the Roles of Humanities and Social Science in Engineering (ICoHSE 2010)
Social sciences
Strongman, Luke, Dr.
The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities
description The 2nd International Conference on the Roles of Humanities and Social Science in Engineering (ICoHSE 2010) organized by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), 12th - 14th November 2010 at Bayview Beach Resort, Penang, Malaysia.
author2 Luke.Strongman@OpenPolytechnic.ac.nz
author_facet Luke.Strongman@OpenPolytechnic.ac.nz
Strongman, Luke, Dr.
format Working Paper
author Strongman, Luke, Dr.
author_sort Strongman, Luke, Dr.
title The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities
title_short The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities
title_full The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities
title_fullStr The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities
title_full_unstemmed The ‘artifex’: Synergies between engineering and the humanities
title_sort ‘artifex’: synergies between engineering and the humanities
publisher Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)
publishDate 2011
url http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/xmlui/handle/123456789/11514
_version_ 1643790186325213184
score 13.160551

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