Philosophical Studies On Technical Design

Technology is the human being-in-the-world way. With the rise of modern industrial revolution, technology is increasingly becoming a focus of the times and the symbolic and metaphorical significance is more and more obvious. Since "Philosophy of Technology Program" was published, which was wrote by the philosopher Ernst Kapp in 1877, technology philosophy has been established and developing rapidly as an independent discipline. The subject is mainly about the soul of technology activities and has a great future. In the philosophy of technology research, there are a large number of literatures concerned about technology, but technology seldom becomes the main theme of technology philosopher. Even though there are many books about the impact of technology on people, few are about the technology itself. Technology is researched as an assured fact in classical theory of technology philosophy. The social consequence of technology large-scale expansion is fervidly investigated, but the technological artifacts and technical design action itself are ignored. Technology is considered only from the external relations of serviceability, not the nature connection with human beings. Because of the technology itself being ignored, the central issues of classical theory of technology philosophy are lack of consistency and haven't formed a cohesive theory focusing on it. So it is difficult to develop a unified paradigm for philosophy of technology. On the base of the background, philosophy thinking on technological design begins to be researched in this thesis.The research on technology philosophy has formed empirical turn in Europe and the United States since 1980. The empirical turn of technology philosophy makes the philosophical analysis towards technique based on the sufficient description and towards technique from the empirical complexity and richness of technique, not based on the presuppose toward to technique making the research on philosophy of technique more taking attention of technical artifacts, design, engineering work and so on. Thinking from the theory of phenomenology, the survey and critique toward technique is not to refute, disproval, but to understand the criticized propositions and their origin of significance. To discuss and analyze technique is to understand all kinds of critical conceptions and propositions of technique, which makes their significance based on technical affairs. Technique has become a complicate system, and the conceptions of technique are hard to be generalized using such words as skills, craftworks, methods, knowledge and tools. American philosopher Carl Mitcham defined technical phenomena from four aspects: the technique as object, knowledge, action and volition. On developing aspect, the conception of technical design (based on social needs and scientific theory) corresponds to the technique as knowledge and volition; the implementation and producing process of technical design corresponds to the technique as action; materialized fruit (Artifacts) corresponds to the technique as object. It is obvious that technical design has comparatively independent significance, and attempts to resolve such questions as what to do ,how to do, and who to do for, embodiment the exchanges of substance, energy and information between man, nature and society, the process of turning existing nature into human surroundings.The exploiting method of bringing a question forward is to present a presupposing and try to materialize it in reality. Solicited by the mass of technical philosophical research, the empirical turning of technical philosophy makes the research stress on the realistic process of technical development. The dissertation's philosophical analysis towards the design of technique makes the pursing aim of technology philosophy based on credible technical analysis of affairs ,cover the unique philosophical questions of technique using the way of deep description , open the Black Box of Technology, at the same time, makes the method of asking become great turning, the essential understanding and valuable judging towards technique based on the inner insight and sufficient empirical description towards the practice of technical design, It is embodied that technique is not the destiny man can't escape, not the neutral tool, also not the method collectivity of having utterly efficiency, but co-evolution with society. The philosophical analysis towards technical design is helpful for people to control technique with reason, makes technical philosophy turn to a great realistic subject, and makes technical practice develop towards an aspect in favor of human.Technical design is an important concept, which is involved in an empirical turn of technology philosophy, and the core term of contemporary technology philosophy. In order to valuably analyzing and dealing with philosophical questions of the technology itself and effect on our lives, the understanding and detail experiential description on technical design is the premise. This is also the central topic to be discussed in the thesis. This thesis is divided into five sections and to clarify that technical design is a new domain of the technology philosophy study, and the significance of connotation, dimension, approaches and the perspective of technical design is to technology philosophy. On the whole, the orientation of technical design is to be established in the field of technology philosophy. On this basis, the source of technical design is discussed in detail from the context of traditional technology philosophy research. Technical design is detailed. It's character is instrument-rationality in engineering tradition and it's foundation is people-center in humanism tradition, which are from separation to unity. Through the research on traditional values, the basic concept formed, which is on various technical design of empirical turn in the contemporary philosophy of technology research. Technical design is a clue connecting thought and behavior, which is carried out in practice and involved in all fields of our life world. Technical design has been gradually improving from applied tools to information technology along a historical industrialized path. The general rules and features of technical design are concluded during reviewing the performance and the times characteristics of technical design. "Great development" and "great damage" of technical design makes people turn to the cognitive thinking rationally. The technical design truth on the foundation, the life awareness of the technical design making non-rational cognition as a breakthrough and the systemic cognition of overall macro-scale technical design are researched. So the formation mechanism and of the general methodology of the contemporary technical design cognition is gained. The final Interpretation to technical design should return to human beings. The history of technical design is the epitome of human existence show volition. The progress of technical design is the publicity of essence of human existence and show the character of the labor practice and the existence of diversity human culture. It promotes human lifestyle to transform and is the basis to achieve essence of human freedom.Along the way of empirical turn of the contemporary philosophy of technology research, technical essence is studied through investigating the general course of technology development or the technical design. Therefore a new research method on philosophy of technology is inaugurated. To analyse the origin of engineering and humanism is helpful to eliminate their bifurcation and promote their unity. The universal rules and characters are achieved by the general description of performance form and times character of technical design in pre-industrialization and post-industrialization. On the basis of the truth, life consciousness and systemic cognition, the formation mechanism and the general methodology of the contemporary technical design cognition is established. Comprehensive interpretation to technical design from human himself exhibits that the progress of technical design achieves essence of human and is the precondition of human freedom and development.Technology is the object of human nature power and technical design give deeply prominence to essence of the people existence, which is the foundation to achieve free nature and the means from the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom. Scientific and technological progress and the development of human civilization make our contemporary human wisdom base on the overall footstone and create a holistic thought with the time characteristics. This dissertation has expounded technical design in the whole from various angles, grasped the contemporary trends of technical design study, brought technology into the framework of sociology, and illustrated technology in different way. There are many choices in the various technical possibilities, but a certain technology need to be shaped in a specific environment. We place technical design in the contemporary technical practice, and a specific context on technical design study will come into being. The complex technical design with transmodern technology terms is concerned about. We integrate technical philosophy investigation Paradigm, form a basic program of the technical design study, realize the external and internal, static and the dynamic comprehensive research, and achieve political, social, institutional, cultural and other "horizon fusion"; We advance crossed research related to fields, show the integrated characteristics of technical design, make technology philosophy break through the abstract interface of engineering and anthropology, penetrate into technical interior, and actualize the organic unity of emotional perception and rational thought.As a way of the world constructing, displaying, un-concealing, technical design is the human being-in-the world means. Technology of human society is the only way to the realm of freedom. The unprecedented rapid development of productive forces is driven by the technology .It makes the human ideals into reality, the people's spiritual strength into material power and achieving mankind freedom under the premise of "free labor". Of course, the technical design objectively has paradoxical historical consequences. Through the increasingly industrial practice, technology enters people's life and transforms people's life, and prepares for the liberation of people, even though it directly has completed automatization. Goods system and industrial model cast the human in the shadow of materialization, but technology also provided the conditions for natural history changing into social history and then humankinds come who are completely self-liberation.