“Natural Fire 10,” by US Army Africa
In an article titled “Embedding the Humanities in Engineering” Erik Fisher and Roop Mahajan, a humanist and an engineer by trade, developed what they called “interdisciplinary trading zones” through which they sought to integrate the divergent perspectives [and] to enhance the ability of engineers [. . .] to engage in productive, self-critical inquiry
(209). They came up with the term “humanistic engineering” to describe [their] new program and the skills and ideals that characterized it. Besides suggesting a critical and reflective quality that [they] believed engineers had to possess in order to better grasp the ethical, human, and social dimensions of their work, the phrase also implied a creativity and sharpness of mind that [they] felt would increase the practical value of their work in the process. [They] imagined future engineers who could draw from and supplement existing paradigms in engineering and the humanities to develop more context sensitive solutions” (212-13).
Why Engineers need the Arts & Humanities:
From Embedding the Humanities in Engineering: Art, Dialogue and a Laboratory by Erik Fisher and Roop L. Mahajan (see pdf through link):
- to develop a self-critical capacity in relation to technical modes of thought (212)
- to initiate and engage in effective dialogue with non-technical audiences regarding socio-humanistic critiques (213)
- to think through and address the social and ethical dimensions of their work, regardless of whether others helped them in this task, so as to frame problems and generate solutions in new ways (213)
- to fuse open-ended critical insight and discovery with the service of engineering as geared toward socially relevant needs (213)
- to provide a creative stimulus for new ideas to emerge (Fisher 213)
- to lead to insight and self-discovery thanks to the humanities ability to grasp wholes and reveal foundations (213)
