LS 160A / Industrial Engineering and Operations Research 190G
Questioning Efficiency: Human Factors and Existential Phenomenology
Philosophy and Values, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Efficiency in human behavior is a goal that is rarely questioned in contemporary culture. This course will study and draw connections among disparate fields to trace the development and influence of this view in our culture. The course, drawing a mix of humanities and engineering students, will include readings and lectures on 19th- and 20th-century writers and philosophers (including Frederick Taylor, Foucault, and Heidegger), and will feature discussions of new technology and team experiment projects. Students will learn to recognize and resist the obsession with efficiency that often goes unquestioned in technology and in our daily lives.
Terms Offered
- Spring 2006