Word: florman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...SAMUEL C. FLORMAN 160 pages. St. Martin's Press...
...guilty, insists Author Samuel Florman. All the world's engineers cannot possibly act in concert for good or ill; nor, for that matter, is technology a sinister disembodied force. "The true source of our problems," Florman finds, "is nothing other than the irrepressible human will"; it is the "dyspeptic philosophers" of anti-technology who would deny human beings the right to desire material comforts. Florman then offers an "existential" philosophy for his profession. Quoting widely from such sources as Homer, the Old Testament, Henry Adams and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, he lists joys available to his colleagues: the thrill derived...
Such pleasures are romantic, visceral, even spiritual; they need not be labeled existential. By so doing, the author forces a comparison with Robert M. Pirsig's bestseller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a volume far richer, more vital and, ultimately, more interesting. Florman's book is weakened by its argumentative tone. Still, it is clear, erudite and occasionally eloquent, valuable reading for engineers given to self-scrutiny and a stimulating one for the layman interested in the ancient schism between machines and men's souls...