Deus Machinator

Stephen T. Frezza, PhD, CSDPSoftware Engineering

Michael J. Caulfield, PhDMathematics

Gannon University

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Engineering Disciplines Rooted in Scientific Knowledge

Also contribute to engineering knowledge Apply and create technology

Responsible to outside authority (civil, business, customers, etc.)

Balance the known, and the unknown Manage both objective and subjective truth

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Who Engineers Say They Are… Creative Problem Solvers –

Create things to improve and to enhance the convenience and beauty of our everyday lives

Trained in Process – moral values embedded in the design process

Agents of Technology and Change – Create and apply technology

Hard Workers – Character and Competence Matter

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Roles of Engineers Problem Solvers Agents of Technology Workers with Character and Competence Agents of Technological Change

Catholic Teaching Catholic Teaching Informs These RolesInforms These Roles

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Recognizing moral conscience over efficiency and practicality

Catholic Problem Solver Work is subordinate to

persons, not vice versa.

Potential of technology: to oppress to enhance living

“…the experience of recent years shows that unless all the considerable body of resources and potential at man’s disposal is guided by a moral understanding and by an orientation towards the true good of the human race, it easily turns against man to oppress him.”

John Paul II: Solicitudo rei socialis #28

The common good is always oriented towards the progress of persons: “The order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around.”

CCC1912 (GS #26)

“An imbalance arises between a concern for practicality and efficiency, and the demands of moral conscience.”

Gaudium et Spes #8

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Catholic Agent of Technology Technology must be at

the service of persons Not persons to

technology

Extending mastery over nature Is good Part of our call

“…Through his labors and native endowments man has ceaselessly striven to better his life. Today, however, especially with the help of science and technology, he has extended his mastery over nearly the whole of nature and continues to do so.

Gaudium et Spes #33

Spiritual values must promoted not be ignored, forgotten

or denied

“Spiritual values are ignored, forgotten, or denied, while the progress of science, technology, and economics is pursued for its own sake, as though material well-being were the be-all and end-all of life.”

John XXIII: Mater et magistra #176

Wiser men and women needed

Need to further humanize technology

“Our era needs such wisdom more than bygone ages if the discoveries made by man are to be further humanized. For the future of the world stands in peril unless wiser men are forthcoming.”

Gaudium et spes #15

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Catholic Character and Competence Strive for excellence All workers have a

serious duty to work with both character and competence

“… acting as citizens in the world, whether individually or socially, they will keep the laws proper to each discipline, and labor to equip themselves with a genuine expertise in their various fields.”

Gaudium et spes #15

“Through labor offered to God, man is associated with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, who conferred an eminent dignity on labor when at Nazareth He worked with His own hands. From this there follows for every man the duty of working faithfully…”

Gaudium et Spes #67

“For the greater man’s power becomes, the farther his individual and community responsibility extends. Hence it is clear that men are not deterred by the Christian message from building up the world, or impelled to neglect the welfare of their fellows, but that they are rather more stringently bound to do these very things.”

Gaudium et Spes #34

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Responsible to others and the community More relied upon, more

responsible to others

Catholic Character and Competence Strive for excellence All workers have a

serious duty to work with both character and competence

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Catholic Agent of Technological Change Responsibility to

promote development within their areas of expertise

Mindful of morality. New developments must always accord with genuine human progress.

“Technical progress, and inventive spirit, an eagerness to create and to expand enterprises, the application of methods of production, and the strenuous efforts of all who engage in production – in a word, all the elements making for such development – must be promoted.”

Gaudium et Spes #34

Let them blend new sciences and theories and the understanding of the most recent discoveries with Christian morality and the teaching of Christian doctrine, so that their religious culture and morality may keep pace with scientific knowledge and with the constantly progressing technology. Thus they will be able to interpret and evaluate all things in a truly Christian spirit.

Gaudium et Spes #62

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Deus Machinator

“God the Engineer”Identifies problems and constructs solutionsIdentifies problems and constructs solutions

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Improving, mastering the forces of nature are part of our task

Genesis 1 God identifies a

problem and constructs the solution

God always works for the good and calls us to participate in that work

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void…”

Genesis 1:1-2a

“God blessed them saying: ‘…fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.”

Genesis 1:28

“The word of God’s revelation is profoundly marked by the fundamental truth that man, created in the image of God, shares by his work in the activity of the Creator and that, within the limits of his own human capabilities, man in a sense continues to develop that activity and perfects it….”

Laborem exercens #25

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Implications for Engineering Education Catholic Teaching: Rich & Untapped Excellence at a Catholic University

more daunting and difficult Wider body of knowledge Higher expectations for the ‘character’

of person

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The Catholic Engineering Student Prepared to work with character and competence

Applies moral understanding to their work Balances the concern for practicality and demands of

moral conscience Grows in knowledge and wisdom

Understanding of truth, beauty and goodness Knows the common good

Willing to place their talents at the service of the common good

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The Catholic Engineering Student: Uses technology to solve human problems

Knows the innate value of the human person Lives respect for the dignity of labor

Worldview not limited to just the seeable, measurable world Armed with revealed truth; not just scientific & subjective Prepared as citizens of the earth and citizens of heaven Develop their faith, not just their reason Understand vocation, not just avocation

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Educating the Catholic EngineerTopicsTopics Holistic view of

mankind: who we are Role of work and

moral decision making Social context of work Relationship of science

and knowledge to creation.

Catholic ResponseCatholic Response Dignity of the human

person Religion as not just

another value Promotion of ethical

dimensions of progress Search for ulterior truth

and the meaning of life