From Artefacts to Knowledge-Facts. On the Scientification of Designing by IT Artefacts using the Example of CAD, CAM, and CAE in Mechanical Engineering
Final Report Abstract
The specificity of the dynamics of knowledge in engineering sciences consists in that knowledge is gained in design processes through artefacts and that this knowledge is made manifest in artefacts. A key function goes to IT tools which are employed for the genesis of knowledge in engineering sciences and which make the gained knowledge available. This project aims to scrutinize the epistemic efficacy of IT artefacts in design processes and their resulting consequences for knowledge dynamics in engineering sciences. IT artefacts are not only important means in knowledge acquisition, knowledge coordination, and knowledge integration. Through their developmental framework, they are also constitutive of knowledge genesis. This approach allows two levels of investigation. On the one hand, the investigation will concentrate on IT artefacts as knowledge manifestations, in which knowledge condenses and which embody knowledge. On the other hand, the investigation will focus on the role of IT artefacts as knowledge tools and their related epistemic practices. The perspective of usage is employed to explain how the epistemic preconditions of tools merge into developmental processes and to explain how new knowledge in engineering sciences is gained with their help. This theoretical-conceptual analysis will be developed in accordance with empirical case studies. They are taken from the field of mechanical engineering using the example of automotive engineering and aim at revealing and critically investigating the employment of CAD (computer-aided design), CAE (computer-aided engineering), CAM (computer-aided manufacturing), and AI from an epistemological perspective. Not least due to the widespread opinion that knowledge in engineering sciences merely employs knowledge provided by other disciplines, a profound understanding of the dynamics of knowledge in engineering sciences remains an important desideratum for research. The project tackles this deficit in two ways: First, it shows the epistemological characteristics of this area and hence, it provides an important building block for a general philosophy of engineering sciences which still needs to be developed. Second, the results promise hints for the world-making potential of IT artefacts. By illuminating the underlying processes, the preconditions of design can already be revealed in its developmental phase. Its critical analysis will essentially contribute to increase the subdued reflexivity in engineering sciences.
Publications
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Evaluation of Knowledge-Related Phenomena in Milestone-Driven Product Development Processes – An Explorative Case Study on Student Projects Konferenz: SPT 2017: The Grammar of Things, Darmstadt, 15.6. 2017
Ammon, S., Wei Min Wang, Konrad Exner, Maurice Preidel, Julius Jenek & Rainer Stark
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Model-based reasoning and model pluralism: Epistemic strategies in product design. Workshop „Philosophy of Models in Engineering Design“, ITAS, KIT, 28.6.2017
Ammon, S.
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Simulation Models as Epistemic Tools in Product Development: A Case Study Konferenz: SPT 2017: The Grammar of Things, Darmstadt, 14.6. 2017
Ammon, S. & Henning Meyer
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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSING KNOWLEDGE DYNAMICS IN ENGINEERING SCIENCE. Design Conference Proceedings, 15(2018), 1631-1642. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Croatia; The Design Society, Glasgow, UK.
Märten, Anke; Jenek, Julius Friedrich Wilhelm; Wang, Wei Min; Fleck, Claudia; Meyer, Henning; Stark, Rainer & Ammon, Sabine
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Drawing Inferences: Thinking with 6B (and Sketching Paper). Philosophy & Technology, 32(4), 591-612.
Ammon, Sabine
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Simulation, Test bench, and Hardware-in-the-loop: Validation in engineering design processes – A case study. 7th Biennial Conference of the Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice, in Ghent, Belgium, 29.6.2018
Ammon, S. & Henning Meyer
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Artefakt-Wissen. Wie lernende Algorithmen und Künstliche. Intelligenz unser Verständnis von Geltung und Vertrauenswürdigkeit herausfordern. Frühjahrstagung des Leopoldina-Zentrums für Wissenschaftsforschung: „Wissenschaft in der Verlässlichkeitsfalle. Praktiken der Konstruktion von Relevanz und Neutralität“, Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften, Halle, 11.4.2019
Ammon, S.
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Design/Entwerfen. Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion, 253-256. J.B. Metzler.
Ammon, Sabine
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Schlussfolgern durch Skizzieren. „Kooperative“ Materialien des zeichnerischen Denkens. Medien der Kooperation – Media of Cooperation, 221-251. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Ammon, Sabine
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Design Methods and Validation. The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Engineering, 315-327. Routledge.
Ammon, Sabine
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Kognitive Optimierung durch KI? Eine technikphilosophische Kritik algorithmischer Wissensproduktion. Jahresversammlung der Görres-Gesellschaft zum Thema "Optimierung des Menschen", Aachen, 24.9.2022
Ammon, S.
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Artefaktwissen, Wissensartefakte und die Weisheit der Künstlichen Intelligenz: Wie maschinelles Lernen unser Verständnis von Verlässlichkeit und Vertrauenswürdigkeit herausfordert. Wissenschaft in der Verlässlichkeitsfalle?: Praktiken der Konstruktion von Relevanz und Neutralität, 105–123.
Ammon, S.
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Kognitive Optimierung durch KI?. Philosophisches Jahrbuch, 130(2), 92-107.
Ammon, Sabine
