| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,830,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
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| Research Abstract |
In this research, we developed a philosophical theory of design based on "inessentialism" philosophy of technology. In contrast to traditional theories of technology, the main feature of this inessentialism is to regard technology as fundamentally flexible and ambiguous phenomena. From this point of view, the process of design is not to be seen as strictly determined by the intra-technological logic, rather it is as an intermediating process of human relationship which is determined by many factors including social and cultural one. Technology is considered to exist within a social and cultural context, and these cultural elements incorporated in technological design. Of central importance to our research is that this theory enables us to discuss "ethics in design," not merely "ethics of engineers."
Ethics of design concern both the process and product of design. When designing some artifacts, engineers expect numerous effects, side effects, and possible influences. In this context, to
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recognize engineers as qualified personnel, it is imperative that they are competent in appropriately understanding and responding to the questions of laypersons. Responsibility, in this sense, is the basis for ethics of design. And another feature of ethics of design is that design is usually made by some organization, especially by business organization, not by an individual engineer. So the collective responsibility for the designing process and its product is the fundamental problem of ethics of design. In this way, relying on the "inessentialism" the principle of design and the understanding of ethics of design must be greatly changed.
In a sense, technology is a narrative written by many authors, namely, engineers, managers, laypersons, etc. The advantage of this approach is that it enables the philosophy of technology to set in a fruitful interaction with various empirical investigations, such as politics and sociology of technology, environmental studies. In this research, we extended the philosophy and ethics of design to those empirical studies in collaboration with empirical researchers. Less
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