Engineering Science

Xiaochun LUO
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 • Engineering sciences qua science deal both with scientific 
knowledge concerning (technical) questions such as
• how a product or technological device can be made that 
meets specific functional and quality requirements
• how industrial processes for the production of a product 
or device must be designed and built
• how to produce a specific chemical compound (e.g., a 
medicine or agricultural chemical)
What ES deals with • how to achieve the desired chemical conversion or 
material property and to prevent the undesirable ones 
(e.g., by using a catalyst or by control of 
physical‐chemical circumstances)
• how to separate the desired from the undesired 
compounds (e.g., by distillation or membrane filtration 
processes)
• how to optimize these sub‐processes to reduce costs 
related to chemicals, energy and waste
 • which are 
• physical and/or technological 
objects (e.g., a protein, a 
membrane, an electrical circuit, a 
Technical prosthesis), 
questions are • properties (e.g., hydrophobic, 
phrased as being magnetic, electrical resistant, 
elastic) and 
about phenomena • processes (e.g., chemical 
production processes, conduction 
of heat, electro‐magnetic 
processes, transfer of momentum, 
conversion of energy)
ES
research ES RESEARCH AIMS AT ES RESEARCH AIMED AT ES AIM AT KNOWLEDGE OF

aims KNOWLEDGE FOR THE DESIGN

AND DEVELOPMENT OF
TECHNOLOGY
KNOWLEDGE FOR IS BASICALLY
MOTIVATED BY HOW TO
QUESTIONS IN TECHNOLOGICAL
CONTEXTS
PHENOMENA THAT CAN BE
USED TO ANSWER ‘HOW TO’
QUESTIONS.
 Similar to the distinction between real-world and knowledge of
that world stressed by Giere et al. (2006), a conceptual
distinction is needed between phenomena and knowledge of
phenomena.

The term knowledge of phenomena will cover different types of

epistemic artifacts, such as:
Knowledge of •descriptions of phenomena (Fig. 1, Q2 and Q5);

phenomena •concepts of phenomena (e.g., ‘elasticity’, ‘conductivity,’ ‘sound-waves,’

‘prosthesis,’ ‘energy,’ ‘motor,’ ‘amplifier’; Fig. 1, Q2);
•explanations of phenomena (e.g., Fig. 1, Q8 and Q9);
•measurements of (aspects of) phenomena (Fig. 1, Q6); and,
•scientific models of phenomena (center Fig. 1).

Additionally, phenomenological laws are the verbal or

mathematical representations of reproducible phenomena
(Boon 2011b, 2017a).
Similarity between the
engineering sciences and
the basic natural sciences
• understand phenomena scientifically
• done in a systematic ‘trial and error’ manner and 
in a more fundamental way
• develop and use technological instruments for 
experimentally generating and investigating the 
phenomena
• both adopt systematic approaches and scientific 
methodology to check the results
• both aim at scientific modeling
• the results of which are published in scientific 
articles
 ES NS
Establish knowledge for how a Discover or test scientific theories
functionally relevant phenomenon is

Difference created, produced, improved, controlled,

manipulated, prevented or optimized

between the through physical-technological

circumstances

engineering Phenomena are part of the goals of

research
Phenomena are aids to research

sciences and Phenomena are interpreted in terms of Scientific understanding of phenomena

their physical features and in terms of is usually detached from technology
the basic their technologically relevant
(dys)function
natural sciences Phenomena are firstly understood as Phenomena are often presented as
‘embedded’ in physical and somehow ‘free-floating’ in nowhere
physical-technological circumstances
 • Innovative approaches often start with a
new design-concept for a specific
technological function.
• A more innovative approach starts from
Design-concepts asking whether the same technological
function can perhaps be achieved in a
in the engineering different way.
• An innovative strategy can aim at
sciences solving existing problems, but also at
new innovative opportunities that no
one has ever thought of.
• Creative minds look at salient phenomena
from a functional perspective, thereby
inventing new design-concepts for new
ways of achieving technological functions.
A design-concept is often
inspired by functional aspects
elsewhere

• However, the functional parts (e.g., natural

membranes, micro-channels and catalysts in
natural photosynthesis and musculoskeletal
systems) usually are not literally reproduced in
the technology.
• Instead, the task of the engineering sciences is
to find out how functional objects, properties
and processes that are not yet existent, but that
are presented as design-concepts, can be
created by ‘artificial’ technological means.
Function of the
phenomenon
• Making these creative leaps between
‘knowledge of a phenomenon’ to ‘function of
the phenomenon’ involves an act of ‘seeing as’
by an engineering mind that asks how the
phenomenon can be practically and
technologically utilized.
Different types of
scientific knowledge
• 1) Observed regularities in measurements
• phenomenological laws or 
• mathematical equations that describe 
causal relations, correlations or 
• statistical relationships between observed 
and measured variables
• 2) Scientific models of the phenomenon are a 
more sophisticated form of scientific knowledge
• mathematical, 
• causal‐mechanistic or 
• diagrammatic models, or 
• a combination of these