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 alike willgreatly benefit from this book.

About the Author
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.


Book Information
ISBN 9783319351544
Author Dingmar van Eck
Format Paperback
Page Count 75
Imprint Springer International Publishing AG
Publisher Springer International Publishing AG