A World of Things Not Facts

When one mentions philosophy of engineering, people often point out that Wittgenstein was an engineer – in order, perhaps, to quell their initial skepticism about the viability of the subject. Although Wittgenstein’s engineering background may have had no direct influence on his philosophy, a comparison between a philosophy of engineering and Wittgenstein’s later philosophical views can demonstrate the validity and value of the philosophy of engineering. In his later years, Wittgenstein turned to the world, to the context of real human interactions, in order to better understand mind and language and to shed light on previously intractable philosophical problems. If philosophers of science and epistemologists are willing to look at how knowledge is exercised in the world, through the application of knowledge to practical problems as it is carried out in engineering and beyond, they too will get a better understanding of their subject and will get new insight into problems they have wrestled with for centuries.