Absolutely. I think people get hung up on the idea of applied science, since applying science is typically one of the best methods of engineering. Our ability

Absolutely. I think people get hung up on the idea of applied science, since applying science is typically one of the best methods of engineering. Our ability to engineer things is dramatically improved by applying the knowledge, techniques, and processes provided by science. But it's not the only way. I feel the article dances around what the fundamental purpose of engineering is - that is to create viable real-world objects by solving problems of constraints and tradeoffs. Nearly all meaningful engineering problems can be posed as a series of constraints and tradeoffs. Even if you were out trying to sharpen a stick into a spear, you're intuitively (and probably iteratively) solving the problem of constraints and tradeoffs. When you set out the make the spear, you might not even know the full extent of the problem. You know that at a high level the spear (assume a throwing spear) must be long enough to be stable in flight, short enough to not be a burden, heavy enough to fly well and deliver energy on impact, light enough to throw, thin though to grip easily, but thick enough to not shatter on impact, pointy enough to inflict damage, but not too pointy for the point to be too fragile. You now get to solve this problem. Sometimes as an engineer you might get the exact values of these constraints given to you, sometimes you have to go find them, and sometimes you wing it. You can use science (work from material properties, dynamics, deformation, biomechanics), you can use some 'direct empirical evidence' (screw around and guess and check =D ) and iterate through a bunch of spear designs, or some rules of thumbs that your uncle told you or a mix of all. The most important thing is that you are managing trade-offs and constraints at some level.