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Means/Ends and the Nature of Engineering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2022

Michael Hodges
Michael Hodges*
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
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Extract

One of the most interesting and influential views in Aristotle's work is his distinction between the practical life and the contemplative life. The division is based on two important claims. The first is a philosophical psychology which involves a hierarchy of human faculties, the highest of which is the intellect. The second is a distinction between two kinds of human doing. One sort of doing is essentially aimed at ends for the sake of which it is undertaken and the other is a doing pursued for its own sake, merely as an exercise of appropriate faculties, skills, or capacities. The hierarchy of faculties and division of human doings grounds Aristotle's view that the exercise of intellect, what he calls “contemplation”, is the highest form of human activity.

Type
Part VIII. Philosophy, Engineering and Society
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1980 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1980 , 1980 , pp. 456 - 463
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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References

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