The Engel’s Biopsychosocial Model in Engineering: Humanistic Education for Engineers, a Systemic View and Practice

A research on the endogenous nature of the biopsychosocial model in engineering shows that, except for a period of time after the Second World War in the twentieth century, pointed out that those human actions identified as engineering actions have always been framed by history (time, chronological components), cultural issues (traditions, customs, beliefs, habits, future expectations, level of education, and marital status in the case of individuals), economic context, social aspects (family ties in the case of individuals, community relationships, religion, for example), affiliations, and political tendencies. An Analytical–synthetic method was used to collect and study institutional and theoretical documents. In addition, abduction as a mode of inference (Peirce’s method), since abductive conclusions provide the starting point for retroductive inferences. This rationale challenges engineering thinking and engineering education to educate engineers as more than artifact builders, but as world citizens, wide-view professional with abilities and capabilities to design situated technological objects according to a complex view of the present and future. In other words, to educate engineers in the biopsychosocial and cultural approach to develop not only to teach technical abilities, but to develop life-long capacities to transform and construct a sustainable world it is not only relevant for the twenty first century but it is inherent to the nature of engineering.