The Philosophy of Science and Engineering Design

This book discusses the relationship between the philosophy of science and philosophy of engineering, and demonstrates how philosophers of engineering design as well as design researchers can benefit from the conceptual toolkit that the philosophy of science has to offer.

In this regard, it employs conceptual tools from the philosophical literature on scientific explanation to address key issues in engineering design and philosophy of engineering design. Specifically, the book focuses on assessing the explanatory value of function ascriptions used in engineering design and philosophy of technical functions; on elaborating the structure of explanation in engineering design; on assessing the role and value of design representations in engineering design and philosophy thereof; and on elaborating means for the testing of design methods.

Presenting a novel and effective approach to tackling key issues in the field, philosophers of engineering and design alikewill greatly benefit from this book.

Autorentext
Dr. Dingmar van Eck currently works as a fulltime (postdoctoral) researcher on issues primarily related to scientific explanation in a variety of scientific fields, including engineering science, biology, cognitive and neuroscience. Before that, he executed a four-year research project on philosophical theories of technical functions, and on functional modelling and explanation in engineering science and practice. Dr. Dingmar van Eck has published numerous papers on these topics in both philosophy and engineering journals.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Chapter 1: Function Ascription and Explanation: Elaborating an Explanatory Utility Desideratum for Ascriptions of Technical Functions.- Chapter 2: Mechanistic Explanation in Engineering Science.- Chapter 3: Dissolving the 'Problem of the Absent Artifact': Design Representations as Means for Counterfactual Understanding and Knowledge Generalization.- Chapter 4: On Testing Engineering Design Methods: Explanation, Reverse Engineering, and Constitutive Relevance.