Engineering and war militarism, ethics, institutions, alternatives /

• Main Author: Blue, Ethan.
• Other Authors: Levine, Michael P., 1950-, Nieusma, Dean.
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: [San Rafael, Calif.] : Morgan & Claypool, c2014.
• Series: Synthesis lectures on engineering, technology, and society ; #20.
• Subjects: Engineering ethics.; War > Moral and ethical aspects.; POLITICAL SCIENCE / General; engineering reform; engineering profession; history of engineering; epistemology; ethics; just war; integrity; military-industrial complex; non-lethal weapons; peace; social justice; Electronic books.
• Online Access: View fulltext via EzAccess

This book investigates the close connections between engineering and war, broadly understood, and the conceptual and structural barriers that face those who would seek to loosen those connections. It shows how military institutions and interests have long influenced engineering education, research,...

Table of Contents:

• 1. The close alignment of engineering and warfare
• 1.1 Direct and indirect connections: engineering, warfare, militarism
• 1.2 What is engineering?
• 1.2.1 Engineering as a domain of knowledge
• 1.2.2 Engineering as a set of practices
• 1.2.3 Engineering as a profession
• 1.2.4 Engineering as an ideology
• 1.3 Engineering's surprising silence on warfare
• 1.3.1 Why the silence?
• 2. The ethics of war
• 2.1 Do engineers have special ethical responsibilities around warfare?
• 2.2 Just war theory
• 2.2.1 Jus ad bellum, "Justice of war": when is it just to go to war?
• 2.2.2 Jus in bello, "Justice in war": how can war be fought justly?
• 2.2.3 Just war and engineering ethics
• 3. Engineering integrity
• 3.1 What is integrity?
• 3.1.1 Integrity as self-integration
• 3.1.2 Integrity as maintenance of identity
• 3.1.3 Integrity as standing for something
• 3.1.4 Integrity as moral purpose
• 3.1.5 Integrity as a virtue
• 3.2 Integrity and social structure
• 3.2.1 Structures of alienation
• 4. Historical entwinements: from colonial conflicts to cold war
• 4.1 Birth of the military-industrial complex
• 4.2 The military-industrial-academic complex
• 4.2.1 Long histories, global histories
• 4.3 Social history of the military-industrial-academic complex
• 4.3.1 From military technologies to socio-economic practices
• 4.3.2 From socio-economic practices to technoscientific research
• 4.3.3 Big social science
• 5. Historical entwinements, post-cold war
• 5.1 "Soft kill" weapons research
• 5.1.1 The rise of non-lethal weaponry
• 5.1.2 Civilian crowd control
• 5.2 Non-lethal weapons research comes of age
• 5.2.1 Second-generation soft-kill weaponry
• 5.3 The increasing depersonalization of violence
• 5.4 DARPA's spiral of innovation
• 5.4.1 Military technology proliferation
• 5.4.2 Contemporary military research funding
• 6. Responding to militarism in engineering
• 6.1 Historic responses: anti-war engineers
• 6.1.1 Anti-militarism reform efforts
• 6.1.2 Humanitarian reform efforts
• 6.2 Ethical challenges of contemporary warfare
• 6.2.1 The hidden violence of depersonalized war
• 6.2.2 The blurring of military targets
• 6.3 Contemporary responses to engineering and war
• 6.3.1 Engineering for peace and justice
• 6.3.2 Engineering for sustainable community development
• 7. Conclusion: facing the entwinement of engineering and war
• Additional resources
• References
• Author biographies.