On Engineering Evolution From The Viewpoint Of Philosophy

Engineering is the base of the existence and development of human society, which is the direct productive force. At the end of the20th century, the rise of philosophy of engineering discovers the long-lost subject of creations of humans—engineering. That intrincic requirement of engineering evoluting, defectivenesse of evolutionary theory on "engineering" and practical needs of solving problems, such as engineering ideology, decision-making and sustainable operation of engineering, make the research on engineering evolution necessary for the further development of engineering philosophy has great times’significance.From the philosophical view, engineering is the practical process and result of constructing artificial reality creatively, through integrating various elements based on specific goals and plans. The essence of engineering is construction and integration. The process and the result of construction and integration (the existence and operation of integrated entity) constitute a structured, functional, efficiency, valuable and orderly dynamical system, which is a dynamical system combining heter-organization with self-organization. Evolution is the process of something transforming one form to another. Engineering evolution is the process of enhancing the degree of self-organizing of dynamical engineering system by the action of out-and-in dynamic mechanism. Engineering evolution usually is characterized by open, periodic and irreversible process, the concertedness of elements and system, self-organization, environmental adaptability and so on.It is inseparable for the material activities of engineering and diferrent era of socio-economic development. Relatively, engineering evolution includes three stages which are the agricultural economy era, industrial economy era and knowledge economy era, according to the historical separation of socio-economic development. The historical analysis of engineering evolution revealed:at different historical stages, ideology, community composition, technology integration methods, resources use patterns, operation mode and management methods have their own important characteristics; engineering as a natural process of evolutional system has shown the holistic and hierarchy, openness and dynamic, non-equilibrium and non-linear, fluctuate and coupling, adaptable and slective, which demonstrate its self-organization function and environmental adaptability.As an orderly dynamical system which is combined heter-organization with self-organization, engineering has its own self-organization operating conditions, dynamics and processes when it evolves. The conditions of self-organization function’s realization include:open, non-equilibrium, fluctuation and non-linear interaction; the relative independence and heterogeneity of the various subsystems (group element), the non-linear relation among the subsystems (group element); from the exchange of material, energy and information (negative entropy input) betweem engineering system and its environment, the negative entropy input of external environment must reach a certain threshold, and it must be dynamic, continuous and effective for the various subsystems. The motive power of the self-organization of engineering system is:the non-linear coupling between the various subsystems (group element); competition and synergy between the various subsystems (group element); the random fluctuation of the operation process of engineering, the feedback of materials, energy and information during the operation. During the process of engineering evolution, self-organizing process of its system includes self-stabilization and self-restructuring, and specifically expressed diversity and the interdiscipline of autopoiesis, self-replicating, self-growth, self-adaptive.As a dynamical system, engineering gains its environmental adaptation owing to the choice of various outer environments. On one hand, engineering evolution is bound to influenced and restricted by the natural, social, economic, technological, cultural and other environmental factors. The adaptation is contributed by the interaction of technological choice, economic choice, social choice and natural selection. On the other hand, engineering has make "reaction" to the natural, social, economic, scientific and cultural environmental factors, to promote the evolving of natural ecological systems, social systems, technology systems and cultural systems. Engineering as a system coevolves with its evolution environment.The research on engineering evolution is of great significance to contemporary engineering practice in China. The inspiration lies in:To establish the harmonious development ideology of engineering,namely, to establish harmonious development ideology of "nature-engineering-society," so as to guide engineering practice; Using engineering evolution and Innovation to promote industrial structure adjustment and upgrading; To chose the path of industrial upgrading based on complying with the law of self-organization of engineering system; Constantly building and improving engineering environment, so as to provide the necessary protection for the high-class evolution of the industry; Putting out and exerting a series of policy and effective measures to promote ecological transformation of engineering, and promoting the sustainable development between human and nature, and between man and society, based on engineering practice in the circular economy.