Shared Values for Aesthetics and Ethics?

Abstract

Michael Polanyi insisted that scientific knowledge was intensely personal in nature, though held with universal intent and hence shared. His insights regarding the personal values of beauty and morality in science are first enunciated and then explored for their relevance to engineering. It is shown that the practice of engineering is also governed by aesthetics and ethics. For example, Polanyi’s three spheres of morality in science—those of the individual scientist, the scientific community and the wider society—have parallels in engineering—namely the individual engineer, the professional institution and the public. In addition, the need for ‘faith’ and ‘trust’ in the practice of science and engineering respectively is stressed. The fact that values in engineering are shared is also demonstrated—in aesthetics through an example that shows convergence of practitioner opinion to solutions reflecting established models of aesthetics; and in ethics through the recognition that many professional engineering institutions give priority to the safety of the public over the interests of the client. Such professional consensus can be seen as justification for studying engineering aesthetics and ethics as inter-subjective disciplines.