From Artefacts to Knowledge-Facts. On the Scientification of Designing by IT Artefacts using the Example of CAD, CAM, and CAE in Mechanical Engineering

工程科学中知识动态的特殊性在于，知识是在设计过程中通过人工制品获得的，这种知识在人工制品中表现出来。一个关键的作用是利用信息技术工具来创造工程科学中的知识，并使所获得的知识可用。该研究小组的这一子项目旨在仔细审查设计过程中IT人工制品的认知功效及其对工程科学中知识动态的影响。IT人工制品不仅是知识获取、知识协调、知识整合的重要手段。通过它们的发展框架，它们也构成了知识遗传。这种方法允许两个层次的研究。一方面，调查将集中在作为知识表现形式的IT人工制品，知识在其中浓缩，体现在知识中。另一方面，调查的重点将是IT人工制品作为知识工具的作用及其相关的认知实践。从使用的角度来解释工具的认知前提如何融入发展过程，以及如何在它们的帮助下获得工程科学中的新知识。这一理论-概念分析将根据经验案例研究进行。它们以汽车工程/制动系统为例，从机械工程领域出发，旨在从认识论的角度揭示和批判性地研究计算机辅助设计(CAD)、计算机辅助工程(CAE)和计算机辅助制造(CAM)的应用。不仅因为人们普遍认为工程科学中的知识只是利用其他学科提供的知识，深入理解工程科学中知识的动力学仍然是研究的重要要求。该项目通过两种方式解决了这一不足：第一，它显示了这一领域的认识论特征，因此，它为工程科学的一般哲学提供了一个重要的基石，而工程科学的一般哲学仍然需要发展。其次，研究结果为IT文物创造世界的潜力提供了线索。通过阐明潜在的过程，设计的前提条件已经在其发展阶段被揭示出来。它的批判性分析将本质上有助于增加工程科学中低调的自反性。

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 subproject of the research group 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 / brake system and aim at revealing and critically investigating the employment of CAD (computer-aided design), CAE (computer-aided engineering), and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) 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.