Du Xiangwan gives a speech entitled "The Philosophy of Engineering and My Outlook on Scientific Development"

1. A thorough study of the philosophy of engineering is an objective requirement for building socialism with Chinese characteristicResearch on the philosophy of engineering will not be limited to China, but Chinese scholars are ahead of their international colleagues in pioneering this discipline. Li Bocong took the lead in advocating research in the philosophy of engineering. A great number of specialists in the fields of philosophy and engineering have put forward a series of innovative viewpoints and statements. The philosophy of engineering was brought forward first in China and developed rapidly. On the one hand, it relies on the above-said specialists profound attainments and their many years of penetrating research. On the other hand, it has its social background and basis in contemporary China, so it deep roots in society. Science and technology are the first productive force, and engineering activity is one of the most important and the most basic ways science and technology propel the development of the economy and science. However, only when we have a good grasp of the essence and law of engineering technology and correctly master and exercise them in engineering practice can engineering activities be successful and attain the goal of benefiting society and the people. Therefore, engineering activities need the guidance of correct epistemology and methodology. Over the past decades, the large amount of engineering activities in China have given us experience from our successes and also lessons from our failures, both of which are of great value to us. China has developed rapidly since the adoption of reform and opening policies, and its achievements, including the organization and implementation of numerous and varied engineering projects, are obvious to all. China is undergoing the grandest and the most spectacular construction period in history. But many years rapid development has also given us a fuller and deeper understanding of our country s situation and more acutely revealed some deep contradictions. Scientific Outlook on Development and Taking a New Road of Industrialization set forth by the Chinese government point out the direction we should go. The several coordinated developments emphasized by Outlook on Scientific Development embody profound philosophical insights of dialectical materialism. It is not easy to achieve success on the new road of industrialization, which requires every engineering project to successfully manage such factors as science and technology, investment, efficiency, resources, environment and manpower on the one hand, and the relationships between them on the other. Hence, the guidance of a correct philosophical outlook is needed throughout the course of engineering activities. In fact, engineers and managers of every successful and outstanding engineering project all consciously or unconsciously use materialism and dialectics. Now what is urgently needed is to get people to use a correct
philosophical outlook more consciously, more systematically and more scientifically to guide their engineering activities Therefore, in China, which is building a well-off society in a comprehensive way, there is a pressing objective need for philosophy of engineering as well as fertile soil for studying, developing and exercising philosophy of engineering.
2. Philosophy of engineering has a rich, profound meaning
Engineering activities involve relationships between human beings and nature, among human beings, and between engineering projects and society. Philosophy of engineering is inevitably interdisciplinary; it is mainly a cross of engineering and philosophy, and its implications also involve wide-ranging questions of science, technology and social science. Working in the field of engineering and technology, Du is acutely aware of the richness of philosophical questions in engineering practice, which extend throughout the course of engineering activities. On the one hand, we should adopt a thorough materialist attitude towards engineering projects. During the course of project survey, justification, decision-making, project determination and evaluation of the progress and results, we should dare to be and actually be practical and realistic and start from objective realities. We should have a clear understanding of the project, including its technology, substructure, environment, materials and technology, and adopt a scientific decision-making procedure that includes such factors as practical investigation, statistical analysis, specialists evaluation and pilot study, all of which embody materialism. On the other hand, engineering activities are permeated with dialectics, for example, successfully managing the relationship between ingenuity and maturity of the technology we use and successfully managing the relationship between quality and cost on the one hand and progress on the other. There are also such human factors as success and frustration, difficulty and confidence, competition and cooperation, secrecy and communication. Many events are related to the dialectic thinking of unity of opposites, the change from quantity to quality and negation of negation. We need to use our philosophical wisdom to master and deal with them.
3. The study and popularization of the philosophy of engineering have practical and far-reaching significance
The philosophy of engineering has strong empirical basis and high value for application. Its study and popularization will enable us to spend less time learning from our mistakes, take fewer detours, and increase efficiency and benefits in the engineering activities of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Arming our engineers, project leaders and managers with materialism helps to avoid subjectivism, vanity projects, projects based solely on leaders subjective suppositions and jerry-built projects; and more dialectic thinking helps to avoid one-sidedness, going to extremes and rigidity. Therefore, for scientists and engineers, the philosophy of engineering is a way of thinking, an intellectual weapon and a spiritual force that can be materialized. An excellent engineer should pay attention to the philosophy of engineering, study and use it, and strive to have good philosophical understanding. In addition, the benefits of the philosophy of engineering are not limited to directing engineering activities. Human beings engineering activities and the thorough development of related science and technology may also influence philosophy in return. From the viewpoint of our understanding of the world on the microscopic scale, research on genetic engineering, and microphysics which is closely related to high energy accelerator projects, will provide new concepts related to microscopic reality. On the understanding of the world on the macroscopic scale, the development of spaceflight engineering, space navigation engineering and detecting methods will provide a new cognition of boundless outer space and time with unknown beginning and end. The twenty-first century will be a century with our microscopic and macroscopic understanding developing in parallel, and they will also stimulate philosophers to think in new ways, elicit new philosophical concepts, and even open new fields in philosophy for development.
(The speech was delivered at the forum of The Philosophy of Engineering and the Development of Science, which was held in Beijing on December 7, 2004)