Theoretical Thinking and Engineering Thinking

Author: Xu Changfu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-01
Features: Throughout history, many works that depict blueprints for human society and culture have appeared theoretically brilliant but have consistently failed in practice—either proving difficult to implement or leading to great disappointment after implementation, even causing unforeseen disasters. Why is this? The book explains that this is a result of the transgression of modes of thinking—on one hand, the misuse of logically consistent theoretical thinking to design projects, and on the other hand, the misuse of non-logical composite engineering thinking to construct theories. This leads to theoretical principles lacking objective binding force and engineering blueprints lacking practical operability, creating a mutual transgression and vicious cycle. The solution lies in the demarcation of modes of thinking—on one hand, using theoretical thinking to construct theories, so that the practical significance of theories does not lie in serving as a blueprint for life but in providing binding principles for life planning, including engineering design; on the other hand, using engineering thinking to design projects, so that the purpose of engineering design is not to rigidly adhere to a specific theory at the expense of life, but to follow all binding theories to create truly feasible plans for human practice. Using the demarcation of modes of thinking to overcome the crisis facing human reason and heal the wounds of utopian practices is, compared to various rigid or measures, a forward-looking and responsible approach.