Running head: WHAT IS ENGINEERING?

What is Engineering? Earl W. Sharp Riverside City College

WHAT IS ENGINEERING? Abstract

WHAT IS ENGINEERING? What is Engineering?

The focus of this paper is to construct an answer as to what engineering is. The purpose of this, the process of developing an answer, is to supplement or replace any personal preconceptions about the concept of engineering. I will attempt to condense the concept of engineering, to reduce it down to a fundamental level wherein I might be able to describe engineering without the long process of pigeonholing every aspect of every engineering field. To do this I will have to consider the assumptions that I--and definitions that we--associate with the word 'engineering'. An initial assumption or intuitive (subconscious) understanding of engineering may assist in identifying the core concept that exists within and in-between individual definitions. Furthermore, my understanding of what is engineering should develop beyond the boundaries of a recite by rote answer The dictionary definitions of engineering work something like a piecewise function, in which engineering is Y if described in X context. What engineering is for an electrical engineer may differ somewhat from what it is for a civil engineer, and still more toward what engineering was for primitive mankind. The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'engineering' as: The branch of science and technology concerned with the development and modification of engines (in various senses), machines, structures, or other complicated systems and processes using specialized knowledge or skills, typically for public or commercial use (Oxford 2012). To analyze this definition I first set aside any field-specific limitations. The remaining content exhibits the two actions development and modification; the two subjects of said actions systems and processes; and the knowledge or skills employed to perform said actions on said subjects. I omit the various specifics such as engines, machines, etc. This is because the various fields of engineering may focus on nonoverlapping subjects. Further I omit the complicated factor of systems and processes. This is because there is no objective method to discriminate between something simple and something

WHAT IS ENGINEERING?

complicated. Is a slide rule less the result of engineering than a super computer? No, yet certainly one is more 'complicated,' but the idea of something being complex evolves, changes from one era to the next. Consider also, the addition of 'specialized knowledge or skills' used toward the creation of so-called 'complicated systems and processes.' Did cavemen have some specialized knowledge or skills when they developed various processes to create fire? I'll rule out that the process was a freebie from Prometheus. If

a simple wooden spear was the state of the art weapon one era, then it was once complicated. Some specialized knowledge would have developed toward spear making, however such knowledge is not specialized when applied to the creation of the bow and arrow. Here I may be attempting to distinguish a line between 'engineering' and 'invention.' The task at hand though is to explain what engineering is, not to define it, not to limit its explanation so that it does not cross into the boundaries of other definitions. Engineering is building and improving upon something. This seems concise, yet confusing since so much can be built or improved upon. One can build a tempo or improve upon a song structure, and yet one can build a nuclear reactor and improve upon its efficiency. Something obvious separates the two processes, yet they both may be engineering. What is the 'something'? To build and improve upon 'something'. Language is so flexible as to allow concepts to bend and adhere to radically different applications, but then this idea may be related to the underlying point. The action of manipulating language in order to solve the problem of communicating an idea or concept is similar in process of engineering. It is not exclusively the manipulation of something, but instead the process of problem solving.