Discussion of the Method: Conducting the Engineer's Approach to Problem Solving PDF

PREFACE

This book is about the universal method. It is about what you do, what I do, what every human has done at every minute of every day since the birth of humanity. Would you change any aspect of your world? If so, you need a universal method to guide you along the steps you must take.

Philosophers have long sought a universal method, mostly to no avail. They failed to look for it in the most unlikely of places, in the engineering method. If there is a universal method—and there is—at a minimum it should be, well, universal. Whether we look to philosophy, to science, to the arts, to engineering, or elsewhere, any method that claims to be universal must subsume all of its competitors. Perhaps surprisingly, the engineering method will emerge as the prototype in our search for the universal method. This choice is defensible because the engineering method is undeniably an effective method. We validate it every time we drive a car, pick up the telephone, sit down at a computer, cross a bridge, take an airplane, turn on the lights, take our medicine, paint our house, put on a sweater, or read a book. If a universal method is to exist, certainly the engineering method is a proven, practical, and important exemplar. The engineering method captures all of the characteristics of a universal method that you will need to create the world you desire. The objective of this book is to define the engineering method and to generalize it to the universal method.

Although there is one universal method, there are many implementations of it. You are absolutely unique—whether by hopes, dreams, areas of interest, profession, race, customs, religion, or nationality. It is not surprising, then, that each person who reads this book will read a different one and would read still another one if the book were reread. Characterizing the uniqueness of each of us is an important and essential part of this book.

The universal method defines our separate humanities. The universal method is the result of a hunt that began in the spring of 1965. Now thirty-six years later, my conviction of having found a universal method is unwavering, if not stronger. All that remains is for you to join me in examining this once elusive prey.

Editor's Note: The author has modeled this book on Descartes' classic Discours de la Methode. The reader will detect echoes of the style, words, and structure of the original, as well as echoes of the works of other well-known scholars with several important exceptions. First, although the original contained no references, the present volume contains only sufficient information to allow an expert in the field to locate easily the cited material while not delaying those who are not specialists. Second, at times the unconventional typography of underlining certain letters appears to remind the reader of the unique characteristics of certain words. An understanding of the theoretical necessity for this unusual rhetorical device will become apparent midway through the book. Both of these departures from modern practice reinforce the central theme of this book.—Ed.