Summary Engineer and

sustainability: Philosophy
Type Lecture

Materials
Reviewed

Writer Robinja

Summary based on the Lectures on "Philosophy", for the part

"Global challenges" is a separate summary un studforum. GLHF

Lecture 1: "Science is : finding what is

not true..."
Precautionary principle
"Where there is a threat of serious or irreversible harm, the lack of
full scientific certainty should not be used
be as a reason to take cost-effective measures to

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 to reduce environmental damage, to postpone it" - Rio
Declaration, 1992

The lack of scientific certainty should not mean that measures should not be
taken, prevention is better than cure.

e.g. tobacco, asbestos → tobacco industry postpones measures by claiming that

there is no burden of proof, after there was, tobacco industry has placed the
responsibility on the user. Ditto asbestos.

Scientific certainty
Ideal type about science: rational and reliable knowledge, which can be generalized
( uniform in time and space), objective (values and free of interest). coherent and with
consensus of the entire common community.

Demarcation criteria for science

What criteria are there to distinguish science from other disciplines Guse of

mathematics and numbers

better, more precise and unbiased representation of data instead of on a

anecdotal way

can deter less science-educated people no requirement

of science(e.g. figures in the newspaper)

You can make predictions with it

How precise should these be?

Working with experiments

Verifiability/falsifiability

things you can verify/verify

Wiener Kreis: science is a collection of true sentences with its

truth basedon logic (following laws/rules) or empiricism (perception).

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 Is verifiability a demarcation criterion?
For example, you cannot verify that this temperature is correct at temperature
in the sun, but would that mean that this is not knowable? There is no
question here:

Current verifiability

→ limit to principle verifiability (we will be able to measure the

temperature at some point)

In this way , many things become accessible to science

Still excludes many things: eg. uniform rectilinear motion: if there

are no forces on an object, this follows an ERB → there is no
object on which there is no force at all.

→ limit to principled confirsuperiority: should it be possible to find states

that correspond to the theory, this can suddenly be a very lax criterion.
So with some faith you can always find similar situations to put your
theory to the test.

Empirical data: observations are always selective (you will never measure
everything) or constructive

Conspiracy theories: a problem with verifiability as a criterion, because a

conspiracy theory is always verifiable if you believe in it, is this science? Hard
to refute.

Falisifiability
You can find confirmations for almost anything ,as long as you believe in
it and search hard enough

A scientific theory is stronger if it is so precise that the chance of it being

confirmed is very small. eg . saying that it will rain in 2023 is not really
scientific as opposed to saying that lightning will strike on a certain day in
Ghent.

→ Sciences should be open to falsification (refutation) and admit that

their theory is wrong. Openness to change theory

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 Theories that are not open to this are (not scientific) pseudosciences as
science advances through elimination, guessing and missing

1 falsification can nullify 1000 confirmations → adjust theory until

knowledge is more and more precise and correct

POPPER: Science is an endless quest, there are no definitive theories, only

hypotheses that have not yet been refuted. There is systematic doubt here.
In the context of the precautionary principle, there is a lack of scientific certainty,
which is not to say that science is not useful.

Quality indicators for scientific work

be open to rebuttals

explanatory power predictions

simplicity(less is more. being able to explain something as simply

as possible) consistency with other disciplines or theories

(chemistry, physics...)

Lecture 2: "How objective can science

be?"

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 Value-free science
discussion between well-known economist Von Schmoller and sociologist,
theologian... Max Weber
Weber: science must be separate from politics and making decisions (e.g. corona)
3 dualisms:

Facts — Values Science —

Political Science — Technology

Political interference of scientists

Galilei Trofim ↔ Lyssenko

Lyssenko has started to conduct politics based on science that can modify
and improve crops by exposing them to certain environments.

Proclaiming that something is a hypothesis or theory is basically the same thing, but
in practice and in political proclamation, a hypothesis comes across as much more
uncertain than a theory.
Science should only be about facts , not values

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 Dualism of facts and values
Facts: impartial arbiter who follows correspondence theory of truth(similarity
between world how to perceive it and how this can be linked back to the
science that is about it want to explain things where the
scientist is a neutral observer.

Values: can be partisan and subjective, no external/impartial arbiter possible but

desirable → coherence, accountability and dialogue make explaining science easier

Facts(What's There) vs Values(What needs to be done)

descriptive prescriptive ↔

what is ↔ what ought to be

sein ↔ sollen

A decision cannot be based entirely on facts, BUT it can be based

on a combination of facts and values.

Value-free science?
Paradigms and disciplinary matrices
1st meaning: paradigm as learning examples

e.g. finger exercises in music, learning mother tongue (trial &

error) science is the constant repetition (paradigm)

Disciplinary matrix as an extension:

Metaphysical components: risk of reductionism, limiting things to your

knowledge alone, only what you know can exist (e.g. doctor and acupuncture
that see muscles, cells and the other energy lines and diagonals.

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 Recognizing methods: e.g. method can be more important as a solution on test,
you can get zero with the wrong method even if the result is correct.

Common values and preferences: display, discuss, unsubscribe results...

certain pattern used in most scientific structures . Science expressed in a
novel will automatically be taken less seriously. Can bring ambiguity: e.g. in one
box use 9.81 for fall acceleration and the other just 10.

Summarized
Paradigms and disciplinary matrices provide tools to recognize, name and work
out valid solutions.

They enable communication in the scientific community and promise success.

These can also be applied to, for example, human sciences
Paradigm shift: new generation of scientists and philosophers creating a whole new
worldview. e.g. the earth is no longer the center of theuniverse, is not flat....
philosophical work needed to change this worldview .
Paradigm: working with an existing method, within the framework of the discipline (e.g.
periodic table in chemists) → very difficult to deal certain issues with another

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 perspective .

Paradigm shift
Climate change → paradigm shift through the "blue marble" photo of our fragile
earth.

Subdivision of people by DezeVries:

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 The individualist, hierarchist or egalitarian view can have different outcomes on issues
such as CO2 emissions or political beliefs. So there may be politics in it
science

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 Lecture 3: Nature as a raw material?
Many forecasts have emerged in the past that predict a crisis point in the event of
population growth and material depletion.

Lynn White
American historian who in the 60s already wondered what the historical factors are
behind an ecological crisis, a pioneer in environmental philosophy.

Looking at the global CO2 levels of the last centuries and long before that we see
an exponential increase from the start of the industrial revolution, it is therefore
valuable to examine what exactly happened during that period.

Technical growth in China, Middle East, India...

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 Temperature rise since industrial revolution in Western Europe

Influence of other cultures that led to industrial revolution in the West

Influence of cultural background on the emergence of industrial

revolution
Traditional: desacralization of nature → nature is not seen as sacred in the West,
but rather in other cultures

Idea of progress: standing still is going backwards

Vision on labor: is seen as something positive, people liked to work in the west

result of capitalist economy

Desacralized vision of nature

Sacred vision of nature can be a brake on technical growth

e.g. not choosing to plant rice during an (optimal) period that coincides with a
cultural event or the sacredness of cows that inhibits the building of roads or
demarcation of fields.

In the West this is usually not a problem, nature is not intrinsically sacred. This
view follows from the 2 Western religious backgrounds: Judaism - Christianity and
Hellenism

Judaism:
Nomad group in Middle East

different ratio to nature than with agricultural cultures (rain dance etc)
because nomads are not so dependent on nature or 1 permanent place

More monotheistic with desecrated nature as a result, God is above nature

"Dominion terrae" and biblical references → man appointed as rulerover

nature

Christianity
affirms the anthropocentrism of Judaism

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 Islam
people humblen more, submit to God (inshallah → God willing, and Allahu
Akbar → Allah is the greatest)

Metaphysical triangle
Illustrates how close people are to nature, god or themselves.

Dualistic worldview in Greek philosophy

Plato: Ideenworld vs material world

concept table, chair or student is applicable for the entire target group and
makes no distinction (reality vs ideenwereld). all depends on
perspective(don't know any better)

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 In today's world , this is also true in mathematics: the concept or idea of circle or
the use of numbers in the idea world to calculate things in the material world.

A very dualistic human and worldview, the material is seen as slightly less real which
explains the detachment with nature. Which has greatly influenced Western culture
and certainly Christianity .
All this, together with the proclamations of philosophers in later times (St
Augustine, Descartes...) forms the contemporary Western attitude towards
labour, beauty, nature...

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 Lecture 4: continued lecture 3
Cultural backgrounds for industrial revolution?
Traditional

image on labour

Ideology of (technological) progress

Desacralization of nature

But also contemporary

Capitalist economy

Origin image on labor of Western culture

Not from the Greeks → Labor has a bad connotation, if someone can work it is
philosophically and thoughtfully incapable.

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 Judaism → Labor is necessary evil, not obviously negative but necessary.
Labor is considered more of a punishment.

Christianity: more positive image, everyone counts and is a child of God,

even if you are a worker or slave, Christianity → very popular with these
groups.

"ora et labora" → pray and work

Protestantism(Max Weber) → "labour ethos" → God has predestination for

everyone (heaven/hell...) → very entrepreneurial attitude.

Entrepreneurial attitude was more present at the beginning of the industrial

revolution due to the rise of Protestantism around that time.

Function of labor
earlier to stay alive, to make ends meet (financial income)

but also to have social identity and contacts, a (time) structure in life, feeling
of being useful → psychological income

e.g. people who win the lotto do not always want to stop working

Ideology of progress
Western culture: Time is linear and shows an evolution/direction

for other cultures:

time as something static (e.g. Plato finding material world false world)

time as something cyclical (e.g. seasons that keep coming back or solar

system) influence of background:

Judaism: nomadic culture, you always have a destination and come from
somewhere

Christianity: very future-oriented

Idea of progress
Western culture: criterion of progress is development of technology, in a straight
line Technology is a criterion of progress (stone age, bronze age, iron age...)

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 The idea of progress is subjective, progress is not always positive for everyone
→ very present in politics and economics.

Feedback I-PAT comparison

Reduce P → fewer people → who is too many? How to cut the population? e.g.
in China only 1 child per family, is sensitive in the western world (right to
reproduction).

Reduce T → dematerialization of the economy, less impact, technological growth.

T reduction can be negated by P and A → car consumes less but more cars by
more people. also, rebound effects(see global challenges)

Technical fix: how do you think you can solve a problem by following the same
logic that created this problem?

Example technical fix: Chemicals factory

Antimony as a by-product ends up in wastewater → water must be purified with
high-tech filter installation → water that can run into the Scheldt
The filter installation has as a by-product sludge with antimony → must be treated →
burned → one part disappears with ashes and the other in gaseous form → gas must
be filtered → absorbed by water etc etc(loop).

reduce A → reduce growth: degrowth → some countries that are already

doing well grow less. trying to reduce society's growth obsession

above a certain limit, more growth does not bring more happiness or well-
being, excess growth has a high T value

Degrowth movement

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 end planned obsolescence → develop products sustainably and not with EOL in
sight to sell more

Reduce advertising to increase buying behaviour

Reduce food waste

downscaling polluting industries (fossil fuels, private jets...) Reduce working

time, cut bullshit jobs

Ecomodernism
not the same as ecoskepticism, eco modernists believe in possibilities to reduce the
T factor through technological innovation without doing economic development or
population decline

less meat consumption, using nuclear energy.

They move away from the technical fix accusation with the reason "we are here
now anyway, there is no going back"

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 Lecture 5: Philosophy by Lode Lauwaert
Third kind of determinism: Creation
determinism: all technology exists inevitably
counter argument: the wheel

wheel in central America → did not arise out of necessity(make sacrifices or

move toys)

wheel in Europe → out of necessity(to move large objects)

→ different meaning of necessity

Not all technology emerges out of necessity thus all technology is not
necessarily inevitably created
Pro Argument: Equal Evolution

bats and dolphins also developed communication technologies just as humans in

their own way.

a lot of things were invented simultaneously in different places(blowpipe, light bulb,

telephone...)

first problem: not everything arises at multiple places(computer, car...)

Second problem: simultaneous evolution is not sufficient for necessity

coincide VS. necessity

Fourth kind of determinism: Evolution

Determinism: one technology inevitably leads to another

improvement of existing technology, succession of different forms(boat and

steam engine separately invented result in the invention of the steamboat)
Changes and technological evolution is rather inevitable

Evolution is driven by desire for efficiency and science

1. efficiency(qwerty keyboard)

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 a. used with typewriters to slow down user, not that efficient but still used because
of habit(can overshadow technological evolution)

2. Science(steam engine)

a. not all tech is based on scientific knowledge tho

First argument: Incremental evolution

not every design fits seamlessly into another use case, incremental upward
trend implies that every technology is a new version of its predecessor.
Second argument: patterns of development
first stone splinters → fire → knife

pottery → metal → electricity → global communication

these evolutions seem inevitable

problem: it cannot be ruled out that these sequences are coincidental and it is
not applicable to everything.
third argument: Moore's law → number of transistors doubles every year

implies that evolution is determinable and therefore avoidable

Technology as a social construction

Attack on arguments is not the same as undermining technological determinism

To prove that not all existence and evolution is determined is also not the same as
saying that no technology is predetermined, everything is avoidable.
e.g.

1. Starbucks: AI systems to let barista's work only when needed instead of old
scheduling system(old tech replaced by new)

2. Spinning machine(evolution): replace people with this machine

These are not technologies that HAVE to be created, turning back time would not
guaranteed the reinvention of these technologies(maybe even for all technologies?)

Not all technologies are inevitable, but some could!

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 → If technology is a product of a social relation it is avoidable

SCOT approach: social construction of technology

Foucault and Bijkers' research found that inventions and emerging technologies
are shaped and influenced by psychology, activism and other societal matters.
→ aviator sunglasses, AI(What data is provided to train? racial
bias?) social constructivists can be social determinists but not
necessarily Gap between having a wish and being able to fulfill that
wish.
e.g. An app that steals all your data is possible but this is not desirable

e.g. Moore's law holds true up to a certain point where physical limitation come in

The spinning machine is result of a societal construct of that time, which led to
the replacement of humans in this industry

Existing technology makes creation of a new version not inevitable but more likely

This theory is relevant today → discussion around killer robots: if determinism is

strongly believed then we should just allow killer robots as this technology would be
inevitable. It is therefore important to look at determinism critically.

Conclusion
There are four forms of technological determinism but yet, all of those are wrong

All of technology and its evolution cannot be fully understood/defined by determinism

alone.

Lecture 6: Guest lecture Energy justice

in engineering decision-making

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 Division of labor

Problems in separatism story:

Do not take social aspects into

account, only do what is asked of
you as an engineer

Is separatism
possible?

Value neutrality thesis: technological artifacts do not contain values so separation

is possible.
Landon Winner: against neutrality thesis → politics is ingrained in
technology (racist bridges). → divorce is not possible

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 Reaction Technologicalde Philosophy to the neutrality thesis
usually against the thesis

Values can be attached to a technology and this is partly the

responsibility of the engineer / designer

→ Against separatism

Engineers make technologies that affect the world, decisions about this are rarely
neutral and not always fair for every relevant party.

Other models of division of labour

Technocracy:
Let engineers make all decisions(both technologically and socially).

→ not a good idea: only a select group that decides on everything, undemocratic

Whistle-blowing model
Engineers do technical side but with a social conscience → sound the alarm or go
to the media if something is not ethically asked of the non-engineers.
Non-engineers do social side.

Alternative
Engineers must design with justice in mind. in particular energy justice
(however, this is not the whole responsibility of the
engineers).

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 What is the link between justice and energy?
Environmental ethics → fairly new form of ethics ( 70s)
Lynn White → man is superior

Environmental ethics goes against that anthropocentrism .

Energy can cause injustice, energy has enormous impact and potential to cause
problems .

Design for justice

descriptive: explaining (elaborating) energy conflicts

normative: making energy systems fairer (acting)

how? → energy justice framework with different types of justice redistributive

justice: sharing benefits and burdens equally

Procedural justice: who makes the decisions and how is power distributed

Recognition justice: people want to be recognized in different ways:

Love → without energy or capital, developing it can be difficult Laws for

recognition → human rights that protect us

Order status → hierarchies and groups with different status based on

characteristics (job, race...) → can be negative such as racism

restoring justice → saying sorry, compensation...

Exercise

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 1. affordability, accessibility...

2. hydroelectric power station, neighbourhood batteries...

3. Energy meter, audits and surveys

Normative uncertainty
Situations where there are several options where it is not clear which are the best or
which is the most equitable.

eg: Geoengineering
Carbon Dioxide Removal

Solar Radiation management

solar shields, shooting sulfur into atmosphere (artificially cooling earth)

Procedural justice: who has no decision-making power? The market decides,

company can do whatever it wants

has an effect on the world so the international community can decide

...

Distributive justice:

let the market decide → risk that energy is only for the rich strict equality

→ problem that not everyone needs the same amount of energy needs

based → difficult to determine what a need is and what not

based on who generates the energy

Recognition through laws:

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 People are intrinsically important, energy is needed so destroying nature is
real ↔ nature is also important so it is difficult to decide what is more
important.

Restorative Justice:

damage to the population of Groningen due to government decisions

regarding gas extraction in this region

Hard to decide on

Taking a position on whether something is fair → must be well-

founded

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 Recap

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 1. Technologies are not neutral, it is necessary to think about which values one
wants to put into technology and in what way

2. Energy technologies can cause injustices, and we must try to avoid this

3. If we want to put justice in our design choice, we can do this using 4 types of
justice and the 3 phases (which values, how to put in and how to evaluate)

4. What exactly is fair? Very debatable → but having data, sitting down with other
stakeholders and drawing conclusions from this helps a lot.

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