Relevance of Philosophy
Introduction /Overview
In this essay the challenge is to shown the relevance of philosophy to 21st century manufacturing. As philosophy is not a new concept there is a wide and defervesce range of ideas (on everything that existed and does not yet exist). The people who study philosophy and deal with such matters must have at one stage put forward some thoughts on manufacturing and even engineering in general.
Philosophy comes from the Greek for "love of wisdom," giving us two important starting points: love (or passion) and wisdom (knowledge, understanding). Philosophy sometimes seems to be pursued without passion as if it were a technical subject like mathematics. Philosophy must come from some passion for the ultimate goal to be achieved: a reliable, accurate understanding ourselves and our world.
Many think philosophy an idle, academic pursuit, never amounting to anything of practical value. The works of ancient Greek philosophers, ask the same questions which philosophers ask today. Doesn't this mean that philosophy never gets anywhere and never accomplishes anything? Philosophy is relevant as it makes us think about where we have come from, where we are at present and where we are going to in the future.
The study of philosophy is usually conducted in one of two different ways: the systematic/ topical method and the historical/ biographical method. Both of these have their strengths and weaknesses and it is often easier to avoid focusing on one to the exclusions of the other, at least whenever possible.
There are many different areas of philosophy which have relevance to manufacturing and will have relevance in the future. Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of existence, of man, and of man's relationship to existence. Some areas of study in philosophy are logic, ethics and epistemology (knowledge, ways of knowing) to name but a few important that are relevant to manufacturing. In this essay I hope to discover the link and the importance of
In this essay the challenge is to shown the relevance of philosophy to 21st century manufacturing. As philosophy is not a new concept there is a wide and defervesce range of ideas (on everything that existed and does not yet exist). The people who study philosophy and deal with such matters must have at one stage put forward some thoughts on manufacturing and even engineering in general.
Philosophy comes from the Greek for "love of wisdom," giving us two important starting points: love (or passion) and wisdom (knowledge, understanding). Philosophy sometimes seems to be pursued without passion as if it were a technical subject like mathematics. Philosophy must come from some passion for the ultimate goal to be achieved: a reliable, accurate understanding ourselves and our world.
Many think philosophy an idle, academic pursuit, never amounting to anything of practical value. The works of ancient Greek philosophers, ask the same questions which philosophers ask today. Doesn't this mean that philosophy never gets anywhere and never accomplishes anything? Philosophy is relevant as it makes us think about where we have come from, where we are at present and where we are going to in the future.
The study of philosophy is usually conducted in one of two different ways: the systematic/ topical method and the historical/ biographical method. Both of these have their strengths and weaknesses and it is often easier to avoid focusing on one to the exclusions of the other, at least whenever possible.
There are many different areas of philosophy which have relevance to manufacturing and will have relevance in the future. Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of existence, of man, and of man's relationship to existence. Some areas of study in philosophy are logic, ethics and epistemology (knowledge, ways of knowing) to name but a few important that are relevant to manufacturing. In this essay I hope to discover the link and the importance of
References: [Stanford, 2010] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/ [tamu, 2010] http://philosophy.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/Notes/96class15.html