engineer

...A famous debate once took place in Japan over how to define technology. This debate on technology was fought between the labor means system theory, which holds that technology is a system of labor means, and the conscious application theory, which holds that technology is the conscious application of objective laws in human practice (productive practice). The former conceptual definition was proposed by the Materialism Study Group in the 1930s, and its leading debaters were Haruki Aikawa, Jun Tosaka, and Kunio Oka. The founder of the latter was physicist Mitsuo Taketani, and this theory became widely known immediately after Japan's defeat in the Pacific War.

*Some terminology explanations that mention "engineer" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…技術をどう定義するかをめぐって，かつて日本では有名な論争が展開された。この技術論論争は，〈技術は労働手段の体系である〉とする労働手段体系説と，〈技術は人間実践(生産的実践)における客観的法則性の意識的適用である〉とする意識的適用説との間で争われた。前者の概念規定を提唱したのは，1930年代の唯物論研究会で，相川春喜，戸坂潤，岡邦雄らがその代表的論客であった。後者の創始者は物理学者の武谷三男であり，太平洋戦争敗戦直後に，この学説が広く知られるようになった。…

※「engineer」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報