This co-edited volume compares Chinese and Western experiences of engineering, technology, and development. In doing so, it builds a bridge between the East and West and advances a dialogue in the philosophy of engineering. Divided into three parts, the book starts with studies on epistemological and ontological issues, with a special focus on engineering design, creativity, management, feasibility, and sustainability. Part II considers relationships between the history and philosophy of engineering, and includes a general argument for the necessity of dialogue between history and philosophy. It continues with a general introduction to traditional Chinese attitudes toward engineering and technology, and philosophical case studies of the Chinese steel industry, railroads, and cybernetics in the Soviet Union. Part III focuses on engineering, ethics, and society, with chapters on engineering education and practice in China and the West. The book’s analyses of the interactions of science, engineering, ethics, politics, and policy in different societal contexts are of special interest. The volume as a whole marks a new stage in the emergence of the philosophy of engineering as a new regionalization of philosophy. This carefully edited interdisciplinary volume grew out of an international conference on the philosophy of engineering hosted by the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. It includes 30 contributions by leading philosophers, social scientists, and engineers from Australia, China, Europe, and the United States.

Geology Applied to Engineering bridges the gap between the two fields through its versatile application of the physical aspects of geology to engineering design and construction. The Second Edition elucidates real-world practices, concerns, and issues for today’s engineering geologists and geotechnical engineers. Both undergraduate and graduate students will benefit from the book’s thorough coverage, as will professionals involved in assessing sites for engineering projects, evaluating construction materials, developing water resources, and conducting tests using industry standards. West and Shakoor offer expanded coverage of important topics such as slope stability and ground subsidence and significant fields in engineering geology, such as highways, dams, tunnels, and rock blasting. In order to allow for the diverse backgrounds of geologists and engineers, material on the properties of minerals, rocks, and soil provides a working knowledge of applied geology as a springboard to more comprehensive subjects in engineering. Example problems throughout the text demonstrate the practical applications of soil mechanics, rock weathering and soils, structural geology, groundwater, and geophysics. Thought-provoking and challenging exercises supplement core concepts such as determining shear strength and failure conditions, calculating the depth needed for borings, reading and analyzing maps, and constructing stratigraphic cross sections.

​Engineers love to build “things” and have an innate sense of wanting to help society. However, these desires are often not connected or developed through reflections on the complexities of philosophy, biology, economics, politics, environment, and culture. To guide future efforts and to best bring about human flourishment and a just world, Engineering and Philosophy: Reimagining Technology and Progress brings together practitioners and scholars to inspire deeper conversations on the nature and varieties of engineering. The perspectives in this book are an act of reimagination: how does engineering serve society, and in a vital sense, how should it.