Typical quote: "Software engineering is defined as the systematic application of science, mathematics, technology and engineering principles to the analysis, development and maintenance of software systems, with the aim of transforming software development from an ad hoc craft to a repeatable, quantifiable and manageable process."

And the publications certainly dress up software engineering in the rhetoric of science: the style of citation where you say something and then add "(Grady 1999)" as if that was supposed to be authoritative.

It will be impossible to make progress in this field (and I think this has implications for AI and even FAI) until such confusions are cleared away.