The Structure of Thinking in Technology

Skolimowski, Henryk

doi:10.2307/3101935

Cited by 76 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Besides those already mentioned in this article, there are Feibleman (1961), Rase (1961), Bunge (1966), Skolimowski (1966), and Bunge (1983).…”

Section: Scientific Versus Technological Knowledgementioning

confidence: 71%

How Science Is Applied in Technology

Boon¹

2006

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science

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Distinctive to basic sciences, scientific research in advanced technologies aims to explain, predict, and (mathematically) describe, not phenomena in nature, but phenomena in technological artefacts, thereby producing knowledge that is utilized in technological design. This article first explains why the covering-law view of applying science is inadequate for characterizing this research practice. Instead, the covering-law approach and causal explanation are integrated in this practice. Ludwig Prandtl's approach to concrete fluid flows is used as an example of scientific research in the engineering sciences. A methodology of distinguishing between regions in space or phases in time that show distinct physical behaviours is specific to this research practice. Accordingly, two types of models specific to the engineering sciences are introduced. The diagrammatic model represents the causal explanation of physical behaviour in distinct spatial regions or time phases; the nomo-mathematical model represents the phenomenon in terms of a set of mathematically formulated laws.

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“…Besides those already mentioned in this article, there are Feibleman (1961), Rase (1961), Bunge (1966), Skolimowski (1966), and Bunge (1983).…”

Section: Scientific Versus Technological Knowledgementioning

confidence: 71%

How Science Is Applied in Technology

Boon¹

2006

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science

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“…It was rejected on the basis of conceptual analyses of scientific and technological knowledge (e.g. Skolimowski, 1966). But also historical studies showed that the factual contribution of science to new technologies in the past, was less significant than many seemed to believe.…”

Section: Science and Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Instruments in Science and Technology

Boon

2009

A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

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Modern science and technology are interwoven into a complex that is sometimes called 'techno-science': the progress of science is dependent on the sophistication of instrumentation, whereas the progress of 'high-tech' instruments and apparatus is dependent on scientific research. Yet, how scientific research contributes to the development of instruments and apparatus for technological use, has not been systematically addressed in the philosophy of technology, nor in the philosophy of science. Philosophers of technology have taken an interest in the specific character of technological knowledge as distinct from scientific knowledge, thereby ignoring the contribution of scientific knowledge to technological developments. Philosophers of science such as the so-called New-Experimentalists, on the other hand, recently has become interested in the role of instrumentation, but merely focus on their role in testing scientific theories. By reviewing the two distinct developments and taking them a step further, an alternative explanation of the interwoveness of science and technology in scientific research is proposed. Additional to testing theories, instruments in scientific practice have an important role in producing reproducible phenomena, and these phenomena may have technological applications. Subsequently, technological development of these applications requires theoretical understanding of the phenomenon and of materials and physical conditions that produce it, is not for the sake of theories about the world, but for the sake of understanding a phenomenon and how it is technologically produced. Science and Technology.At present, many accept that modern science and technology are interwoven into a complex that is sometimes called 'techno-science': the progress of science is dependent on the sophistication of instrumentation, whereas the progress of 'high-tech' instruments and apparatus is dependent on scientific research. (c.p. Galison 1987(c.p. Galison , 1997 Baird and Faust, 1990;Radder, 1996Radder, , 2003. From this perspective, an understanding of how scientific research interacts with technology, in particular in the development of instruments and apparatus, is a topic for both philosophy of technology and philosophy of science. The focus taken here is how scientific research contributes to the development of instruments and apparatus for technological use.In philosophy of technology, recent interest has been in the nature of technological knowledge, (e.g. Vincenti, 1990;Kroes, 1995;Pitt, 2000), rather than in how scientific research contributes to technological development. In that literature, science is valued for its heuristic role, whereas scientific approaches to the development of technology are non-existent. Conceptual and historical reasons may explain this focus. Traditionally, science and technology were distinct domains. The classical dichotomy between scientific knowledge (epistême) and technological knowledge (têchnè) was grounded in the ontological distinction between their objects: Scientific ...

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“…First, considering the general concerns of science, we can say that while science has to do with what is, technology has to do with what is to be (Skolimowski 1966). Second, if the basic goals of science are truth and an improved understanding of the world, the main goals of technology are utility and improved usefulness.…”

Section: Some Reflections On the Difference Between Science And Technmentioning

confidence: 99%