P. K. Engelmeyer
Engineer, philosopher of technology and creativity. Born 1855. In 1881 he graduated from the Imperial Moscow Technical School, and lectured at technical schools.
Inspired by the writings of a number of philosophers (Ernst Mach, Ernst Kapp, Alfred Espinas, Fred Bon), Engelmeyer set out to contribute to the emerging field of philosophy of technology. His most productive years were just before and after the Revolution, during the 1910s and 1920s. In 1911, he presented a paper at the Fourth International Philosophical Congress in Bologna. Between 1912 and 1913 he published four volumes of his Philosophy of Technology in four volumes.
Since May 1927, Engelmeyer led an informal public association Circle of Common Technology Issues within the Polytechnic Society of the All-Union Association of Engineers (AAE). The focus of the group were study of general, sectoral and regional history of technology; analysis of relationships and interaction of technology with science, art, economy, law, ethics and "common way of life"; development of scientific and biographical heritage outstanding engineers and the formation of the theory of technical creativity; and improving the system of technical education. Members included N. Golovanov, VV Dobrovolsky, L. Dreyer, AK Kaufman-Klementyeva, or JH Yurovsky.[1] In 1929, after campaign against the philosophy of technology he dropped his philosophical career; the AAE was liquidated.
He died in 1942.
Literature
- By Engelmeyer
- Tekhnicheskij itog XIX veka [Technical Sum of the 19th Century]. Moscow: Tipografija K.A.Kaznachejeva, 1898. (in Russian)
- Teorija tvorchestva. S predislovijami D.N.Ovsianiko-Kulikovskogo i Ernsta Makha [Theory of Creativity]. St. Petersburg: Obrazovanije, 1910. (in Russian)
- Tvorcheskaya lichnost’ i sreda v oblasti tekhnicheskikh izobretenij [Creative Individual and Context in the Sphere of Technical Innovation], St. Petersburg: Obrazovanije, 1911. (in Russian)
- Filosofija tekhniki. Vypusk 1 [Philosophy of Technology, Vol. 1], Moscow, 1912. (in Russian)
- Filosofija tekhniki. Vypusk 2. Sovremennaja filosofija [Philosophy of Technology, Vol. 2: Contemporary philosophy], Moscow, 1912. (in Russian)
- Filosofija tekhniki. Vypusk 3 [Philosophy of Technology, Vol. 3], Moscow: Nasha zhizn’, 1912. (in Russian)
- Filosofija tekhniki. Vypusk 4. Technizism, [Philosophy of Technology, Vol. 4: Technicism], Moscow, 1913. (in Russian)
- "V zasshitu obssikh idej v tekhnike" [Defending the general ideas of technology], in Vestnik inzhenerov, T.1, No. 3, 1 Fevralia, Moscow, 1915. (in Russian)
- Kak nado i kak ne nado izeobretat’. Konspect lekzij s diapositivami [How We Should and Should Not Invent. Lecture Notes with Slides]. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo VZSPS, 1925. (in Russian)
- "Nuzhna li nam filosofija tekhniki?" [Do we need philosophy of technology?], in Inzhenernyj trud, No. 2, 15 Janvarja, Moscow, 1929. (in Russian)
- On Engelmeyer
- Vitali G. Gorokhov, Peter Klimentjewich Engelmeyer: Mechanical Engineer and Philosopher of Technology, 1855-1941, Moscow: Nauka, 1997. (in Russian)
- Vitaly G. Gorokhov, "Technischer Optimismus – Philosophie der Technik von P. K. Engelmeyer", in Technikphilosophie und Technikfolgenforschung in Russland, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler: Europäische Akademie, 2001, pp 10-18. (in German)
- "Vitalist Technocultural Thinking in Revolutionary Russia (on Piotr Engelmeier)", in Place Studies in Art, Media, Science and Technology. Historical Investigations on the Sites and the Migration of Knowledge, edited by Andreas Broeckmann and Gunalan Nadarajan, Weimar: Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften, 2009, pp 183-197.
