Abstract
The goal of this essay is to sketch a taxonomic outline of values within engineering. Any desire to understand the technology-society relationship would presumably benefit from investigating the values that inform engineering work, since that work is largely proximate to the production of technologies. More specifically, an understanding of the values constitutive of and operating within engineering at a multitude of levels can potentially aid in understanding how engineers go from thought to thing in the processes of design and manufacture. I propose a four-level hierarchy of engineering values, at the micro, meso, macro, and meta levels. Values at the micro level correspond to those values operative at the level of specific, detailed engineering tasks. Meso level values are those values operative in the process of translating functional descriptions of designs into structural descriptions – that is, at the creative level of engineering design. At the macro-level, I refer to the values operative for engineers at the economic/organizational level – that is, at the level at which engineers intersect heavily with non-technical interests. Finally, the meta level comprises overarching values that presumably inform all of engineering work.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The interviews were conducted by undergraduate engineering students who received training in interview protocols. The interviewees were employed engineers who, with one exception, worked in Texas. They comprised both men and women, represented several engineering disciplines, and represented an assortment of types of industries or held governmental positions.
References
Auyang, S. (2004). Engineering: An endless frontier. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Boston, W., Varnholt, H., & Sloat, S. (2015, December 10). Volkswagen blames ‘chain of mistakes’ for emissions scandal. The Wall Street Journal. http://www.wsj.com/articles/vw-shares-up-ahead-of-emissions-findings-1449740759. Accessed 10 Dec 2015.
Bottger, P. (2010, July 1). The genius of Nicolas Hayek. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/01/nicolas-hayek-swatch-swiss-leadership-managing-watch.html. Accessed 4 Jan 2016.
Bucciarelli, L. (1994). Designing engineers. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Davis, M. (1997). Is there a profession of engineering? Science and Engineering Ethics, 3, 407–428.
Davis, M. (1998). Thinking like an engineer: Studies in the ethics of a profession. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Donzé, P.-Y. (2014). A business history of the swatch group: The rebirth of Swiss watchmaking and the globalization of the luxury industry. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dopfer, K., Foster, J., & Potts, J. (2004). Micro-meso-macro. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 14, 263–279.
Downey, G., Lucena, J., & Mitcham, C. (1987). Engineering ethics and identity: Emerging initiatives in comparative perspective. Science and Engineering Ethics, 13(4), 463–487.
Florman, S. (1987). The civilized engineer. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Hansson, S. O. (2013). Valuation of artefacts and the normativity of technology. In M. J. de Vries, S. O. Hansson, & A. Meijers (Eds.), Norms in technology (pp. 103–118). Dordrecht: Springer.
Hansson, S. O., Meijers, A., & de Vries, M. J. (2013). Introduction. In M. J. de Vries, S. O. Hansson, & A. Meijers (Eds.), Norms in technology (pp. 1–11). Dordrecht: Springer.
Koen, B. V. (2003). Discussion of the method: Conducting the engineer’s approach to problem solving. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kroes, P. (2010). Engineering and the dual nature of technical artefacts. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34(1), 51–62.
Marx, L. (1987). Does improved technology mean progress? Tech Rev, 90(1), 33–41.
Newberry, B. (2015). Efficiency animals: Efficiency as an engineering value. In S. H. Christensen, C. Didier, A. Jamison, M. Meganck, C. Mitcham, & B. Newberry (Eds.), Engineering identities, epistemologies and values: Engineering education and practice in context (Vol. II, pp. 199–214). Dordrecht: Springer.
Nicholls, J. (1988). Leadership in organisations: Meta, macro and micro. European Management Journal, 6(1), 16–25.
Petroski, H. (1985). To engineer is human: The role of failure in successful design. London: Macmillan.
van de Poel, I. (2013). Translating values into design requirements. In D. P. Michelfelder, N. McCarthy, & D. E. Goldberg (Eds.), Philosophy and engineering: Reflections on practice, principles and process (pp. 253–266). Dordrecht: Springer.
van de Poel, I. (2015). Values in engineering and technology. In W. J. Gonzalez (Ed.), New perspectives on technology, values, and ethics: Theoretical and practical (Boston studies in the philosophy and history of science, Vol. 315, pp. 29–46). Dordrecht: Springer.
Vincenti, W. G. (1990). What engineers know and how they know it. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Weinberg, A. M. (1970). The axiology of science: The urgent question of scientific priorities has helped to promote a growing concern with value in science. American Scientist, 58(6), 612–617.
Acknowledgements
I thank the following students who participated in conducting interviews of engineers during the spring semester of 2014. At the time they were undergraduate Mechanical Engineering or Electrical and Computer Engineering majors at Baylor University, though now all have graduated: Zach Bitting, Andrew Hoeckel, Courtney Kimutis, Peyton Lundsford, and Alexa Wilde.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Newberry, B. (2016). For the Benefit of Humanity: Values in Micro, Meso, Macro, and Meta Levels in Engineering. In: Franssen, M., Vermaas, P., Kroes, P., Meijers, A. (eds) Philosophy of Technology after the Empirical Turn. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33717-3_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33717-3_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33716-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33717-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)