The Third Stage of Engineering Activity: Using Artifacts and Living a Life

Abstract

The third stage of engineering activity is the using artifacts and living a life. For philosophy of engineering, artifacts are created in order to be used. Value is not only a major economic concept but also a philosophical one. Engineering and scientific activities differ in that the former are value-directed activities whereas the latter are mostly truth-directed ones. This chapter combines economic, semantic, sociological, and philosophical theories in order to analyze the issues of value, exchange, transaction, communication, and consumption. Specifically, three meanings of value and three major mediums of modern social communication will be considered. The production process creates various types of human-made things, or artifacts, which are different from natural things. Natural things can be named things-in-themselves, while artifacts can be named semi-things-in-themselves: half natural and half human-made through purposeful production activities. The main object of the philosophy of science is the thing-in-itself, or the natural thing, whereas the main object of philosophy of engineering is the semi-thing-in-itself, or the artifact. This chapter points out that the maxim “I use artifacts, therefore I am” can also be viewed as an independent maxim of the philosophy of engineering. Human activity is purposeful and the process of engineering is purpose-oriented. The philosophy of engineering should pay attention not only to purpose but also to consequence and the relationship between purpose and consequence. Based on the concepts of “thing-in-itself,” “semi-thing-in-itself,” “things for humans,” and “things for themselves,” this chapter makes a new analysis of alienation, including the alienation of artifacts, alienation of signs, and alienation of human. At the end of this chapter, the concepts of life and freedom are briefly discussed from the perspective of the philosophy of engineering.