The aesthetics of engineering
The aesthetics of design traditionally concerns the relationship between form and function, that is, how the appearance of technical artifacts relates to the purpose for which they were designed. A piece of design is considered beautiful when it appears fit for its purpose, when its form harmonizes with its function. It is usually taken for granted that the aesthetics of engineering can be reduced to the aesthetics of design. I argue instead that the aesthetics of engineering should be distinguished from the aesthetics of design, because it concerns not only what an artifact does, but how it does it. The aesthetics of engineering does not focus only on form and function, but above all on functioning. It does not merely explain why a machine looks fit for its purpose; rather, it focuses on the processes that contribute to realizing that purpose. The aesthetics of engineering thus allows us to appreciate the beauty of a machine by watching it operate in accordance with the constraints and laws of nature.
Speaker:
Enrico Terrone is Professor of Aesthetics at Università di Genova and Principal Investigator of the ERC project “The Philosophy of Experiential Artifacts”. He received a degree in Electronic Engineering from Politecnico di Torino and then a PhD in Philosophy from Università di Torino. He was research fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg (Bonn), FMSH (Paris), Institut Jean Nicod (Paris), and LOGOS (Barcelona). His inquiry is about the relationship between art, technology, and experience. He published papers in journals such as Erkenntnis, Analysis, Synthese, The Philosophical Quarterly.
Introduction:
Vera Tripodi (Professor of Ethics of Technology, Politecnico di Torino)