Engineering in the Social and Historical Perspective (a review of V.G. Gorokhov’s book Engineering: Evolution from Simplicity to Complexity)

Abstract

The book by Ph. D. Vitaly G. Gorokhov, one of the leading Russian experts in the field of philosophy and sociology of engineering, is reviewed. The author's concept of evolution in engineering that summarizes the results of the research work V.G. Gorokhov has been conducting for several decades is considered. Close integration of science, technology, manufacture, and education that has developed by today is a factor that adds much difficulty to the task of isolating and analyzing the engineering proper. V. G. Gorokhov’s paying attention to investigating the prerequisites of engineering and its evolution stages allows him to reveal the distinctive features of engineering as a phenomenon, to throw light on the role played by rational description of engineering, scientific experiments, and creative work in the field of engineering in different historic eras. Numerous specific examples taken from different areas of engineering, which are widely referred to in the monograph, are its doubtless advantage and distinguish the book from a number of modern publications devoted to the history and philosophy of engineering and technical sciences. The book touches the matter of interactionbetween theoretical science and engineering practice with illustrating it by examples taken from the Russian history of science and engineering. The author suggests a comparative analysis of the historical experiences gained in Russia, Britain, and Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries in the making of engineering education and in emergence of engineering societies and dedicated journals. It should also be noted that the last chapters of the monograph, which are devoted to the latest trends in the development of engineering and their social consequences, are of particular interest. The newest forms of integration of engineering, fundamental science, and manufacture, which have shaped a so-called “technoscience”, a phenomenon that is being a subject of heated debates, are described. Much attention has been paid to the matters of social expertise in engineering, the topic that was thoroughly studied by V.G. Gorokhov proceeding from both Russian and foreign (especially German) experience.