Distinguishing Architects from Engineers: A Pilot Study in Differences Between Engineers and Other Technologists

This chapter points out some differences between engineers and architects in curriculum, standards of evaluation, and allied fields, provides an historical account of the origins of those differences (emphasizing the last three hundred years), and reflects on the method that makes the differences so clear and alternative methods of study that might make them appear much less so (a focus on discipline, occupation, and profession rather than function). The conclusion is that we must be careful to identify what method we use to study engineering, since the choice of method is often also the choice of conclusion (or, at least, the ruling out of some promising alternatives).