This discussion reminds me of a talk given by Glenn Vanderburg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhdlBHHimeM), wherein he explores the question of whether "software engineering" is or can really be engineering. Around the 27 minute mark, he quotes Billy Vaughn Koen, a nuclear engineer, as follows: "The Engineering Method is the use of heuristics to cause the best change in a poorly understood or uncertain situation within the available resources."

That's hardly the end of the debate, and I'm still undecided, but it seemed worth lobbing in before hitting the rack.