The Purpose of Design n 27
are often feelings, prejudices, and impressions rather than rational judgments. But
they also include a lack of understanding and definition of the process of engineer-
ing itself. On the one hand, there is the view, supported by a significant segment
within the engineering community, that engineering is a science, albeit an applied
science, and must not only remain securely anchored in the natural sciences, but
must not allow itself to become tainted or diluted by “soft” issues that belong more
properly to such fields as psychology, linguistics, philosophy, economics, etc. is
view essentially makes engineering an incestuous occupation; “good engineering”
becomes whatever advances our stock of technology, without a ...