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| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Existential Pleasures of Engineering Samuel C. Florman, 1996-02-15 A classic examination of how engineers think and feel about their profession and its philosophy. “A useful read for engineers given to self-scrutiny, and a stimulating one for the layman interested in the ancient schism between machines and men’s souls.” —Time Humans have always sought to change their environment, building houses, monuments, temples, and roads. In the process, they have remade the fabric of the world into newly functional objects that are also works of art to be admired. Now as engineering plays an increasingly important role in the world while coming under attack for all manner of sins, one must wonder about the nature of the engineering experience in our time. In this, the second edition of his popular Existential Pleasures of Engineering, Samuel Florman perceptively explores how engineers think and feel about their profession. Dispelling the myth that engineering is cold and passionless, Florman celebrates it as something vital and alive. He views engineering as a response to some of our deepest impulses, rich in spiritual and sensual rewards. Opposing the “antitechnology” stance, Florman brilliantly emerges with a more practical, creative, and fun philosophy of engineering that boasts pride in his craft. First published in 1976, this classic book is essential reading for anyone curious about what wonders we have wrought. “Gracefully written . . . refreshing and highly infectious enthusiasm . . . imaginatively engineered.” —The New York Times Book Review |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Existential Pleasures of Engineering Samuel C. Florman, 1976 |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Existential Pleasures of Engineering Samuel C. Florman, 1976 |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Good Guys, Wiseguys, and Putting Up Buildings Samuel C. Florman, 2012-03-13 Good Guys, Wiseguys, and Putting Up Buildings is an engaging memoir about one man's career in construction--rising to the top of an industry renowned for crime, corruption, violence, physical danger, and the chronic risk of financial catastrophe. Starting in the Navy Seabees at the end of WWII, Samuel C. Florman made his way as a general contractor in New York City through the period of explosive development, private exuberance and the historic growth of publicly supported housing--all amidst the rise of the notorious Mafia families, and evolution of the Civil Rights Movement. His storied career brought him into contact with a variety of personalities: politicians and civil servants, developers and technocrats, saintly do-gooders and corrupt rapscallions. Along with the rousing adventures there were satisfactions of a different sort: the enchantment of seeing architecture made real; the pride of creating housing, hospitals, schools, places of worship--shelter for the body and nourishment for the spirit. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Civilized Engineer Samuel C. Florman, 2014-04-22 Civil engineer Samuel C. Florman's The Civilized Engineer is aimed at both those observing and commenting externally on engineering, and the practicing engineer—to reveal something of the art behind great engineering achievements, and to stimulate debate upon the author's hypothesis that in its moment of ascendance, engineering is faced with the trivialization of its purpose and the debasement of its practice. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Environmental Ethics For Engineers Alastair S Gunn, 2018-01-18 We have used this book, manuscript form, as supplemental reading in our environmental engineering classes at Duke University. The discussion of ethics is usually reserved for the final few days of class, when the students should start asking ‘so what? about course material. We respond to this question by covering the principles of ethics in one lecture and spending two or more sessions discussing various readings. Engineering students who have spent four years learning how to crunch numbers and to solve technical problems to three significant figures admit that the study of environmental ethics introduces new and exciting concepts into their professional thinking, and provides a perspective which otherwise would be missing from their education. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Introspective Engineer Samuel C. Florman, 1996-12-15 An exciting look at how engineering and engineers can shape the future of our society--from the author of the classic The Existential Pleasures of Engineering. In this elegantly reasoned and passionately argued book, Samuel Florman suggests that at this moment in history, a few good technological fixes are just what the world needs. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: To Engineer is Human Henry Petroski, 2018-10-16 “Though ours is an age of high technology, the essence of what engineering is and what engineers do is not common knowledge. Even the most elementary of principles upon which great bridges, jumbo jets, or super computers are built are alien concepts to many. This is so in part because engineering as a human endeavor is not yet integrated into our culture and intellectual tradition. And while educators are currently wrestling with the problem of introducing technology into conventional academic curricula, thus better preparing today’s students for life in a world increasingly technological, there is as yet no consensus as to how technological literacy can best be achieved. I believe, and I argue in this essay, that the ideas of engineering are in fact in our bones and part of our human nature and experience. Furthermore, I believe that an understanding and an appreciation of engineers and engineering can be gotten without an engineering or technical education. Thus I hope that the technologically uninitiated will come to read what I have written as an introduction to technology. Indeed, this book is my answer to the questions 'What is engineering?' and 'What do engineers do?' - Henry Petroski, To Engineer is Human |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Inventing Modern John H. Lienhard, 2003-09-18 Modern is a word much used, but hard to pin down. In Inventing Modern, John H. Lienhard uses that word to capture the furious rush of newness in the first half of 20th-century America. An unexpected world emerges from under the more familiar Modern. Beyond the airplanes, radios, art deco, skyscrapers, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Buck Rogers, the culture of the open road--Burma Shave, Kerouac, and White Castles--lie driving forces that set this account of Modern apart. One force, says Lienhard, was a new concept of boyhood--the risk-taking, hands-on savage inventor. Driven by an admiration of recklessness, America developed its technological empire with stunning speed. Bringing the airplane to fruition in so short a time, for example, were people such as Katherine Stinson, Lincoln Beachey, Amelia Earhart, and Charles Lindbergh. The rediscovery of mystery powerfully drove Modern as well. X-Rays, quantum mechanics, and relativity theory had followed electricity and radium. Here we read how, with reality seemingly altered, hope seemed limitless. Lienhard blends these forces with his childhood in the brave new world. The result is perceptive, engaging, and filled with surprise. Whether he talks about Alexander Calder (an engineer whose sculptures were exercises in materials science) or that wacky paean to flight, Flying Down to Rio, unexpected detail emerges from every tile of this large mosaic. Inventing Modern is a personal book that displays, rather than defines, an age that ended before most of us were born. It is an engineer's homage to a time before the bomb and our terrible loss of confidence--a time that might yet rise again out of its own postmodern ashes. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Teaching Engineering, Second Edition Phillip C. Wankat, Frank S. Oreovicz, 2015-01-15 The majority of professors have never had a formal course in education, and the most common method for learning how to teach is on-the-job training. This represents a challenge for disciplines with ever more complex subject matter, and a lost opportunity when new active learning approaches to education are yielding dramatic improvements in student learning and retention. This book aims to cover all aspects of teaching engineering and other technical subjects. It presents both practical matters and educational theories in a format useful for both new and experienced teachers. It is organized to start with specific, practical teaching applications and then leads to psychological and educational theories. The practical orientation section explains how to develop objectives and then use them to enhance student learning, and the theoretical orientation section discusses the theoretical basis for learning/teaching and its impact on students. Written mainly for PhD students and professors in all areas of engineering, the book may be used as a text for graduate-level classes and professional workshops or by professionals who wish to read it on their own. Although the focus is engineering education, most of this book will be useful to teachers in other disciplines. Teaching is a complex human activity, so it is impossible to develop a formula that guarantees it will be excellent. However, the methods in this book will help all professors become good teachers while spending less time preparing for the classroom. This is a new edition of the well-received volume published by McGraw-Hill in 1993. It includes an entirely revised section on the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and new sections on the characteristics of great teachers, different active learning methods, the application of technology in the classroom (from clickers to intelligent tutorial systems), and how people learn. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: She Engineers Stephanie Slocum, 2018-01-19 Career success guide for female engineers. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Ethics, Technology, and Engineering Ibo van de Poel, Lamber Royakkers, 2011-05-02 Featuring a wide range of international case studies, Ethics, Technology, and Engineering presents a unique and systematic approach for engineering students to deal with the ethical issues that are increasingly inherent in engineering practice. Utilizes a systematic approach to ethical case analysis -- the ethical cycle -- which features a wide range of real-life international case studies including the Challenger Space Shuttle, the Herald of Free Enterprise and biofuels. Covers a broad range of topics, including ethics in design, risks, responsibility, sustainability, and emerging technologies Can be used in conjunction with the online ethics tool Agora (http://www.ethicsandtechnology.com) Provides engineering students with a clear introduction to the main ethical theories Includes an extensive glossary with key terms |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Lost in Thought Zena Hitz, 2021-08-24 An invitation to readers from every walk of life to rediscover the impractical splendors of a life of learning In an overloaded, superficial, technological world, in which almost everything and everybody is judged by its usefulness, where can we turn for escape, lasting pleasure, contemplation, or connection to others? While many forms of leisure meet these needs, Zena Hitz writes, few experiences are so fulfilling as the inner life, whether that of a bookworm, an amateur astronomer, a birdwatcher, or someone who takes a deep interest in one of countless other subjects. Drawing on inspiring examples, from Socrates and Augustine to Malcolm X and Elena Ferrante, and from films to Hitz's own experiences as someone who walked away from elite university life in search of greater fulfillment, Lost in Thought is a passionate and timely reminder that a rich life is a life rich in thought. Today, when even the humanities are often defended only for their economic or political usefulness, Hitz says our intellectual lives are valuable not despite but because of their practical uselessness. And while anyone can have an intellectual life, she encourages academics in particular to get back in touch with the desire to learn for its own sake, and calls on universities to return to the person-to-person transmission of the habits of mind and heart that bring out the best in us. Reminding us of who we once were and who we might become, Lost in Thought is a moving account of why renewing our inner lives is fundamental to preserving our humanity. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: From Curlers to Chainsaws Joyce Dyer, Jennifer Cognard-Black, Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, 2016-02-01 The twenty-three distinguished writers included in From Curlers to Chainsaws: Women and Their Machines invite machines into their lives and onto the page. In every room and landscape these writers occupy, gadgets that both stir and stymie may be found: a Singer sewing machine, a stove, a gun, a vibrator, a prosthetic limb, a tractor, a Dodge Dart, a microphone, a smartphone, a stapler, a No. 1 pencil and, of course, a curling iron and a chainsaw. From Curlers to Chainsaws is a groundbreaking collection of lyrical and illuminating essays about the serious, silly, seductive, and sometimes sorrowful relationships between women and their machines. This collection explores in depth objects we sometimes take for granted, focusing not only on their functions but also on their powers to inform identity. For each writer, the device moves beyond the functional to become a symbolic extension of the writer’s own mind—altering and deepening each woman’s concept of herself. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Surfaces Joseph A. Amato, 2013-05-08 Human beings are surrounded by surfaces: from our skin to faces, to the walls and streets of our homes and cities, to the images, books, and screens of our cultures and civilizations, to the natural world and what we imagine beyond. In this thought-provoking and richly textured book, Joseph A. Amato traces the human relationship with surfaces from the deep history of human evolution, which unfolded across millennia, up to the contemporary world. Fusing his work on Dust and On Foot, he shows how, in the last two centuries, our understanding, creation, control, and manipulation of surfaces has become truly revolutionary—in both scale and volume. With the sweep of grand history matched to existential concerns for the present, he suggests that we have become the surfaces we have made, mastered, and now control, invent, design, and encapsulate our lives. This deeply informed and original narrative, which joins history and anthropology and suggests new routes for epistemology and aesthetics, argues that surfaces are far more than superficial façades of deep inner worlds. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Engineering and the Mind's Eye Eugene S. Ferguson, 1992 In Engineering and the Mind's Eye, Ferguson discusses the nature of engineering design and traces the development of visual and other nonverbal thinking, offering examples of how engineers and other technologists have used such strategies since the Renaissance. Accompanying these examples, and demonstrating the ways in which engineers have shared their knowledge, is a parallel text of illustrations showing how visual thinking has been expressed over the past five centuries. Ferguson concludes his provocative account by arguing that engineering education since 1945 has been skewed toward analytical techniques - which are easiest to teach and evaluate - and away from the art of engineering design as taught by experienced engineers. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Think Like an Engineer Guruprasad Madhavan, 2015 At last engineering is getting its due; engineers are finally cool. But few of us understand the engineering mindset. It's the mindset that came up with flatpack furniture, disposable nappies, and the postal code; that solved Stockholm's traffic and the problem of bank closing times (the hole-in-the-wall); and whose seemingly simple ideas have saved countless lives, with innovations such as painting a line behind traffic lanes and combining GPS with 999. The engineering mindset is much like a Swiss-army knife - multipurpose, combining structured and abstract thinking, common sense and great imagination, and cross -pollinating information from every possible sector. With the help of a cast of star engineers and fascinating, unexpected real world examples, Madhavan offers a framework for you to think like the best engineers - more creatively, systematically and strategically so that you can learn to make better decisions in a complex world. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Where Is My Flying Car? J. Storrs Hall, 2021-11-30 From an engineer and futurist, an impassioned account of technological stagnation since the 1970s and an imaginative blueprint for a richer, more abundant future. The science fiction of the 1960s promised us a future remade by technological innovation. We’d vacation in geodesic domes on Mars, have meaningful conversations with computers, and drop our children off at school in flying cars. Fast-forward 60 years, and we’re still stuck in traffic in gas-guzzling sedans and boarding the same types of planes we flew in over half a century ago. What happened to the future we were promised? In Where Is My Flying Car?, J. Storrs Hall sets out to answer this deceptively simple question. What starts as an examination of the technical limitations of building flying cars evolves into an investigation of the scientific, technological, and social roots of the economic stagnation that started in the 1970s. From the failure to adopt nuclear energy and the suppression of cold fusion technology to the rise of a counterculture hostile to progress, Hall recounts how our collective ambitions for the future were derailed, with devastating consequences for global wealth creation and distribution. He then outlines a framework for a future powered by exponential progress—one in which we build as much in the world of atoms as we do in the world of bits, one rich in abundance and wonder. Drawing on years of original research and personal engineering experience, Where Is My Flying Car?, originally published in 2018, is an urgent, timely analysis of technological progress over the last 50 years and a bold vision for a better future. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Engineering Philosophy Louis L. Bucciarelli, 2003 Engineering and Philosophy seem two worlds apart. But things and ideas are not disjunct in this world, and their synthesis is certainly essential in engineering design. In this book, the author explores how the concerns of philosophers are relevant to engineering thought and practice -in negotiating tradeoffs, in diagnosing failure, in constructing adequate models and simulations, and in teaching. This book is based on a number of lectures given at the Technical University of Delft, where the author was a Visiting Professor hosted by the Philosophy section and the School of Industrial Engineering Design. Louis Bucciarelli is a Professor of Engineering and Technology Studies at MIT. He is the author of numerous publications including the book Designing Engineers. Contents include: Designing, like language, is a social process, What engineers don't know & why they believe it, Knowing that and how, Learning engineering, Extrapolation, Index. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Seeing Like a State James C. Scott, 2020-03-17 One of the most profound and illuminating studies of this century to have been published in recent decades.--John Gray, New York Times Book Review Hailed as a magisterial critique of top-down social planning by the New York Times, this essential work analyzes disasters from Russia to Tanzania to uncover why states so often fail--sometimes catastrophically--in grand efforts to engineer their society or their environment, and uncovers the conditions common to all such planning disasters. Beautifully written, this book calls into sharp relief the nature of the world we now inhabit.--New Yorker A tour de force.-- Charles Tilly, Columbia University |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: A Mind Apart Susanne Antonetta, 2007-09-06 This beautifully written exploration of the unusual abilities of those who are differently wired (Psychology Today) received a Ken Book Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness for outstanding literary contribution to the world of mental health. In this fascinating literary memoir, Susanne Antonetta draws on her personal experience as a manic-depressive, as well as interviews with people with multiple personality disorder, autism, and other neurological conditions, to form an intimate meditation on mental disease. She traces the many capabilities-the visual consciousness of an autistic, for example, or the metaphoric consciousness of a manic-depressive-that underlie these and other mental disabilities. A stunning portrait of how the world shapes itself in minds that are profoundly different from the norm, A Mind Apart urges readers to look beyond the concept of cures to the gifts inherent in many neuroatypical conditions. Employing a wide-ranging approach to her subject, Antonetta provides a rare glimpse into the wildly varying landscapes of human thought, perception, and emotion. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: What is Sexual History? Jeffrey Weeks, 2016-06-10 Until the 1970s the history of sexuality was a marginalized practice. Today it is a flourishing field, increasingly integrated into the mainstream and producing innovative insights into the ways in which societies shape and are shaped by sexual values, norms, identities and desires. In this book, Jeffrey Weeks, one of the leading international scholars in the subject, sets out clearly and concisely how sexual history has developed, and its implications for our understanding of the ways we live today. The emergence of a new wave of feminism and lesbian and gay activism in the 1970s transformed the subject, heavily influenced by new trends in social and cultural history, radical sociological insights and the impact of Michel Foucault’s work. The result was an increasing emphasis on the historical shaping of sexuality, and on the existence of many different sexual meanings and cultures on a global scale. With chapters on, amongst others, lesbian, gay and queer history, feminist sexual history, the mainstreaming of sexual history, and the globalization of sexual history, What is Sexual History? is an indispensable guide to these developments. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Demon of Writing Ben Kafka, 2020-04-14 Since the middle of the eighteenth century, political thinkers of all kinds — radical and reactionary, professional and amateur — have been complaining about “bureaucracy.” But what, exactly, is all this complaining about? The Demon of Writing is a critical history and theory of one of the most ubiquitous, least understood forms of media: paperwork. States rely on records to tax and spend, protect and serve, discipline and punish. But time and again this paperwork proves to be unreliable. Examining episodes from the story of a clerk who lost his job and then his mind in the French Revolution to Roland Barthes’s brief stint as a university administrator, the book reveals the powers, failures, and even pleasures of paperwork. Many of its complexities, the book argues, have been obscured by the comic-paranoid style that characterizes so many of our criticisms of bureaucracy. At the same time, the book outlines a new theory of what Marx called the “bureaucratic medium.” Returning first to Marx, then to Freud, The Demon of Writing argues that this theory of paperwork must be attentive to both praxis and parapraxis. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Facebook Steven Levy, 2020-02-25 One of the Best Technology Books of 2020—Financial Times “Levy’s all-access Facebook reflects the reputational swan dive of its subject. . . . The result is evenhanded and devastating.”—San Francisco Chronicle “[Levy’s] evenhanded conclusions are still damning.”—Reason “[He] doesn’t shy from asking the tough questions.”—The Washington Post “Reminds you the HBO show Silicon Valley did not have to reach far for its satire.”—NPR.org The definitive history, packed with untold stories, of one of America’s most controversial and powerful companies: Facebook As a college sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from its first, modest iteration. In light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing “fake news” accounts, the handling of its users’ personal data, and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO—who has enormous power over what the world sees and says—never has a company been more central to the national conversation. Millions of words have been written about Facebook, but no one has told the complete story, documenting its ascendancy and missteps. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life, or the imperative of this book to document the unchecked power and shocking techniques of the company, from growing at all costs to outmaneuvering its biggest rivals to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram, to developing a platform so addictive even some of its own are now beginning to realize its dangers. Based on hundreds of interviews from inside and outside Facebook, Levy’s sweeping narrative of incredible entrepreneurial success and failure digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Artificial Intelligence Morris W. Firebaugh, 1988 * Comprehensive survey introduces all major areas of artificial intelligence; ideal for those with programming skill in one high level language. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Albion's Seed David Hackett Fischer, 1991-03-14 This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are Albion's Seed, no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Never-ending Challenge of Engineering Hyman George Rickover, Paul E. Cantonwine, 2013 |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Private Empire Steve Coll, 2012-05-01 “ExxonMobil has met its match in Coll, an elegant writer and dogged reporter . . . extraordinary . . . monumental.” —The Washington Post “Fascinating . . . Private Empire is a book meticulously prepared as if for trial . . . a compelling and elucidatory work.” —Bloomberg From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of Ghost Wars and The Achilles Trap, an extraordinary exposé of Big Oil. Includes a profile of current Secretary of State and former chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson In this, the first hard-hitting examination of ExxonMobil—the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States—Steve Coll reveals the true extent of its power. Private Empire pulls back the curtain, tracking the corporation’s recent history and its central role on the world stage, beginning with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 and leading to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The action spans the globe—featuring kidnapping cases, civil wars, and high-stakes struggles at the Kremlin—and the narrative is driven by larger-than-life characters, including corporate legend Lee “Iron Ass” Raymond, ExxonMobil’s chief executive until 2005, and current chairman and chief executive Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's nomination for Secretary of State. A penetrating, news-breaking study, Private Empire is a defining portrait of Big Oil in American politics and foreign policy. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Existential Kink Carolyn Elliott, 2020 Drawing on a number of traditions, the authors shows us how to constructively use spells -- for protection and for reversing negative magical work -- and provides instruction for working with water, baths, incense, oils, herbs, as well as with spoken and written spells. By the author of the popular SPIRITUAL CLEANSING. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Steps Toward a Philosophy of Engineering Carl Mitcham, 2019-12-06 This book takes steps to develop a philosophy of engineering not to promote an ideology for engineering but to stimulate critical reflection among engineers and non-engineers alike about our engineering lifeworld. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Is College Worth It? William J. Bennett, David Wilezol, 2013-05-14 Is college worth the ever-increasing cost? From the mouths of politicians and parents alike, the notion that everyone should go to college is conventional wisdom in America. Yet half of today's college graduates are unemployed or underemployed. They have little to show for their time in school but a massive amount of student-loan debt and an education that's left them unprepared for the workplace. For anyone making a decision about their educational and financial future, Is College Worth It? is an indispensable guide. Former United States Secretary of Education William Bennett and humanities graduate student David Wilezol offer clear-eyed analysis and practical advice that goes far beyond glossy admissions brochures and convoluted financial-aid paperwork. You'll discover: Which colleges offer a good return on your investment?and which ones don't How student-loan debt impacts your real-world finances What the intellectual climate is really like inside many of today's universities A wealth of higher education alternatives to a traditional four-year degree Is college worth it isn't a question to be answered by educators and economists alone. It is also one that students and parents need to answer for themselves in order to secure an education?and a future?that is as responsible as it is rewarding. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Blaming Technology Samuel C. Florman, 1981 |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Philosophy and the Event Alain Badiou, 2013-06-10 This concise and accessible book is the perfect introduction to Badiou’s thought. Responding to Tarby’s questions, Badiou takes us on a journey that interrogates and explores the four conditions of philosophy: politics, love, art and science. In all these domains, events occur that bring to light possibilities that were invisible or even unthinkable; they propose something to us. Everything then depends on how the possibility opened up by the event is grasped, elaborated and embedded in the world – this is what Badiou calls a ‘truth procedure’. The event creates a possibility but there then has to be an effort – a group effort in the case of politics, an individual effort in the case of love or art – for this possibility to become real and inscribed in the world. As he explains his thinking on politics, love, art and science, Badiou takes stock of his major works, reflects on their central themes and arguments and looks forward to the questions he plans to address in his future writings. The book concludes with a short introduction to Badiou’s philosophy by Fabien Tarby. For anyone wishing to understand the work of one of the most widely read and influential philosophers writing today, this small book will be an indispensable guide. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Why We Are Restless Benjamin Storey, Jenna Silber Storey, 2021-04-06 No one seems to be happy with the present. That loathing of the present is understandable. The present moment, in modern life, is hard to love, or even to grasp. For the modern present is a state of constant motion. Perpetual moral, social, and psychic revolution is the price we pay for our unprecedented liberty, equality, and prosperity. Though we rightly prize those great political goods, having our world turned upside down every morning makes us all of us uneasy and some of us miserable. We exacerbate our unease by our failure to recognize it. With our ritual insistence that we are perfectly content to go with the flow, we deny even the existence of our disquiet. We refuse to see what time it is, and we refuse to see ourselves-- |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Project Hail Mary Andy Weir, 2022-10-04 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING RYAN GOSLING AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER LORD AND PHIL MILLER From the author of The Martian, a lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science. HUGO AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Bill Gates, GatesNotes, New York Public Library, Parade, Newsweek, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal • New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “An epic story of redemption, discovery and cool speculative sci-fi.”—USA Today “If you loved The Martian, you’ll go crazy for Weir’s latest.”—The Washington Post Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone. Or does he? An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: How to Paint a Dead Man Sarah Hall, 2009-08-19 Hall's writing manages to combine acute sensitivity and daring. ... Visceral and engaging. ... The emotional lives of her characters are skillfully realized in this bright weave of disparate voices–for whom art is at once a way of seeing and a way of life. —The Times (London) The lives of four individuals—a dying painter, a blind girl, a landscape artist, and an art curator—intertwine across nearly five decades in this luminous and searching novel of extraordinary power. With How to Paint a Dead Man, , Sarah Hall, one of the most significant and exciting of Britain's young novelists (The Guardian), delivers a maddeningly enticing read...an amazing feat of literary engineering (The Independent on Sunday). |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty Vendela Vida, 2015-06-02 From the acclaimed author of Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and The Lovers comes a taut, spellbinding literary thriller that probes the essence and malleability of identity. In Vendela Vida’s taut and mesmerizing novel of ideas, a woman travels to Casablanca, Morocco, on mysterious business. While checking into her hotel, the woman is robbed of her wallet and passport—all of her money and identification. Though the police investigate, the woman senses an undercurrent of complicity between the hotel staff and the authorities—she knows she’ll never recover her possessions. Stripped of her identity, she feels burdened by the crime yet strangely liberated by her sudden freedom to be anyone she chooses. A chance encounter with a movie producer leads to a job posing as a stand-in for a well-known film star. The star reels her in deeper, though, and soon she’s inhabiting the actress’s skin off set, too—going deeper into the Casablancan night and further from herself. And so continues a strange and breathtaking journey full of unexpected turns, an adventure in which the woman finds herself moving further and further away from the person she once was. Told with vibrant, lush detail and a wicked sense of humor, The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty is part literary mystery, part psychological thriller—an unforgettable novel that explores free will, power, and a woman’s right to choose not her past, perhaps not her present, but certainly her future. This is Vendela Vida’s most assured and ambitious novel yet. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Eat Less Water Florencia Ramirez, 2017 The solution to worldwide water shortages is in our kitchens. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: Hold Paramount: The Engineer's Responsibility to Society P. Aarne Vesilind, Alastair S. Gunn, 2015-01-01 This practical and essential text, co-authored by an engineer and an ethicist, covers ethical dilemmas that any engineer might encounter on the job, emphasizing the responsibility of a practicing engineer to act in an ethical manner. To illustrate the complexities involved, the authors present characters who encounter situations that test the engineering code of ethics. The dialogue between the characters highlights different perspectives of each dilemma. As they proceed through the book, students see how the code of ethics can help in decision making, as well as the implications of various decisions. The philosophical theory that supports the ethical situations encountered is presented as boxed material following each section. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version. |
| the existential pleasures of engineering: A Guide for the Perplexed Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, 1995 In this book Schumacher asserts that it is the task of philosphy to provide a map of life and knowledge. Questions such as 'How do I conduct my life?' or 'What is the meaning of religion?' are given their proper prominence. |
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of EXISTENTIAL is of, relating to, or affirming existence. How to use existential in a sentence.
EXISTENTIAL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
EXISTENTIAL definition: 1. relating to a philosophy (= system of ideas) according to which the world has no meaning and…. Learn more.
The meaning of "existential" - Encyclopedia Britannica
The adjective existential is often defined as, “of, or relating to, existence.” However, as you point out, that doesn’t really explain the meaning of existential in most contexts. Let’s try another …
Existentialism - Wikipedia
Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of …
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Existential is an adjective meaning “relating to existence,” but what does that even mean? What does anything mean? What is our purpose in the universe? These are existential questions.
EXISTENTIAL definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
You use existential to describe fear, anxiety, and other feelings that are caused by thinking about human existence and death.
Existential – Meaning & Definition - GRAMMARIST
In its most basic form, existential refers to anything about existence. But I often see it used in a philosophical context, related to existentialism, a philosophy centered on the individual, personal …
existential adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage ...
Definition of existential adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Existential - definition of existential by The Free Dictionary
Define existential. existential synonyms, existential pronunciation, existential translation, English dictionary definition of existential. adj. 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with existence. 2. Based on …
What does Existential mean? - Definitions.net
In a psychological context, existential refers to an existential crisis or an existential state of being. This refers to a period or mindset in which an individual experiences deep contemplation, …
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of EXISTENTIAL is of, relating to, or affirming existence. How to use existential in a sentence.
EXISTENTIAL | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
EXISTENTIAL definition: 1. relating to a philosophy (= system of ideas) according to which the world has no meaning and…. Learn more.
The meaning of "existential" - Encyclopedia Britannica
The adjective existential is often defined as, “of, or relating to, existence.” However, as you point out, that doesn’t really explain the meaning of existential in most contexts. Let’s try another …
Existentialism - Wikipedia
Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of …
EXISTENTIAL Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Existential is an adjective meaning “relating to existence,” but what does that even mean? What does anything mean? What is our purpose in the universe? These are existential questions.
EXISTENTIAL definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
You use existential to describe fear, anxiety, and other feelings that are caused by thinking about human existence and death.
Existential – Meaning & Definition - GRAMMARIST
In its most basic form, existential refers to anything about existence. But I often see it used in a philosophical context, related to existentialism, a philosophy centered on the individual, …
existential adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and …
Definition of existential adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Existential - definition of existential by The Free Dictionary
Define existential. existential synonyms, existential pronunciation, existential translation, English dictionary definition of existential. adj. 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with existence. 2. Based on …
What does Existential mean? - Definitions.net
In a psychological context, existential refers to an existential crisis or an existential state of being. This refers to a period or mindset in which an individual experiences deep contemplation, …
