[SystemSafety] Engineering depends on making arguments (was Re: Fwd: Measurement + Control)

[C. Michael Holloway]

 > Engineering is not about making "arguments."

At one level, the statement is trivially true.  Engineering is (by 
definition) about constructing practical products.  The desired end result 
is, for example, a bridge, not the designs and analyses of the bridge.

But at another level, the statement is false.  Producing the desired end 
product necessarily requires specification, design, analysis, and associated 
activities.  These activities in turn necessarily produce results, which are 
usually embodied in documents.  These documents necessarily contain many 
arguments.  Some of these arguments may be explicit (for example, 
calculations about the load that a particular truss must support).  Some of 
these arguments may be implicit (for example, the implicit argument 
underlying a decision to adopt a particular design as sufficiently safe based 
on the results of a thorough hazard analysis).  Whether implicit or explicit, 
arguments permeate every aspect of engineering.

Arguments are not the end product of engineering, as they are of philosophy.  
But without arguments, there is no engineering.

-- 

C. Michael Holloway

Disclaimer: My opinions are mine alone. Give neither blame nor credit to my 
employer for them.

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