Articles The Friesian School as a Turning Point of the Engineerizing of Science: Revolution of the Doctrine of Natural Science in 19th- Century Germany by E.F. Apelt

This paper examines the intention to 'engineerize' natural science, which occurred in the doctrine of natural science by 19th-century German philosophy, and most particularly its Friesian school. One cannot discuss the features of contemporary natural science without referring to the viewpoint of 'engineering'. Today, the elements of engineering penetrate even the investigation of so-called pure natural science, in something of a contrast to scientific investigation in the 17th century. Considering the case of Germany--a beacon of natural science upon which Japan modelled its investigations into the field--the 19th century was a starting point in the stream of engineerizing of natural science. More specifically, the investigation of natural science was revitalized through the rise of engineering, and thus enginnerized through this stream. Then, what should be understood under the concept of 'engineering'? Philosophy of engineering can provide this framework. Indeed, philosophy of engineering is a discipline engaged in the philosophical self-reflection of the activities of engineering, and conceptualizes and orders what the term encapsulates. While the philosophy of engineering as a discipline was established in the 21st century, the philosophical analysis of engineerizing of the investigation of natural sciences already existed in 19th-century Germany. Indeed, the engineerizing of the natural sciences was examined through the cooperation of philosophers and natural scientists at the time. The locus of this interdisciplinary cooperation was the 'Friesian school', a school that once enjoyed an enormous influence over the interdisciplinary areas, but has now been largely forgotten from the authentic history of philosophy. From this viewpoint, this paper examines Friesian scholars, especially Ernst Friedrich Apelt's doctrine of the engineerizing of the natural sciences, by referring to the product of the philosophy of engineering. In so doing, it seeks to reveal the circumstances through which the natural sciences were engineerized in 19th-century Germany.