Abstract

WEYERSTALL, Walter. Being an engineer. Rev. iberoam. cienc. tecnol. soc. [online]. 2015, vol.10, n.29, pp.263-272. ISSN 1850-0013.

This paper is an essay that intends to answer the question: what does it mean to be an engineer? It starts by describing the distinctive limitations of utilitarianism to arrive at a full definition, and makes reference to the main dehumanizing consequences: suffocation of his most genuine humanity, powers that restrain him, and the failure of university, as part of current imagery, to impart "culture" in Ortega and Gasset's terms. Finally, this paper gives an answer from the human ecology perspective, that serves as guide to understand the role of the engineer within the human ecosystem, and from which culture emerges (in the meaning given to the term) as a necessary and foundational element in the essence of being an engineer.

Keywords : Engineer; Utilitarianism; Culture; Technology.

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