Abstract

The first phase of any engineering processStagethe first stage of engineering activity is planning and decision-makingDecisiondecision-making. As a philosophical concept, planning refers to both the activity of planning and the result of the planning activityPlanningplanning activities. Engineering planning or designDesign is different from scientific research. The former is a goal-oriented performance, whereas the latter is truth-orientedTruthtruth-oriented. The ability to make plansAbilityability to make plans or to designDesign is one of the most basic abilities of humans. In the natural world there is no such thing as a “first move,” but in engineering activityEngineeringengineering activity, the goal-settingGoalgoal-setting involved in a project becomes the “first move.” As natural processesProcessnatural process are causal and devoid of goals while engineering processesEngineeringengineering process are laden with values and goals, and because both causalityCausalityand teleologyTeleology play their parts in engineering processesEngineeringengineering process, philosophers and engineers must pay attention to the comparative analysis of causalityCausalityand teleologyTeleology. This chapter analyzesTelosGoal; PurposetelosTelos, purpose, teleologyTeleology, and causalityCausality from a new perspective. Engineers and philosophers should pay attention to complex relationships among cause, result, Purpose IPurposepurpose I, and Purpose IIPurposepurpose II. This chapter also analyzes the classification of goalsGoalclassification of goals, their determination, initial constraints, environmental constraints, and expected conditionsConditionsexpected conditions. In engineering activitiesEngineeringengineering activity, it is important to know oneself, understand the situation, and seize opportunities. The last part of this chapter is the study of operational research, the nature of risk, attitudes toward riskRiskattitudes toward risk, decision-makersDecisiondecision-maker, elements of decision-makingDecisionelements of decision-making, ideas, rationality, and traps in decision-makingDecisiontraps in decision-making.