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Symbolic Engineering
Symbolic engineering in the broad sense can be thought of as a deliberate form of applied development that is rooted in the argument that human systems are basically symbolic in design and function. At the same time, we may apply a more obvious and practical definition to symbolic engineering, and refer to the design and construction of alternative symbol systems and symbolisms. Construction of systems of symbols, and systems based upon symbols, will be found to go hand-in-hand and the be inseparable in any applied paradigm of alternative development.
In this regard we are talking a wee bit more than the manipulation of symbolic devices for the purposes of advertising products or persuading people to a particular kind of pattern of response or adopting a particular kind of orientation or state-change. It is more than just knowledge engineering, or the kind of informational organization upon which computer science is predicated for building efficacious and effective programs that function in real terms in the real world.
In its largest sense, we may understand symbolic engineering as a form of engineering in context, and symbolic articulation and design in engineering context. All engineering is about the application of scientific principles to working systems and design development. We refer to symbolic engineering when we refer to scientific principles of human systems of organization and behavior that lead to various consequences, whether in terms of working production, playful anti-structure, forms of social-symbolic ritualization and legitimization or social reproduction.
The links to the primary portals of this framework are found below:
