Past Designs as Repositories of Tacit Collective Knowledge

Mark Addis, Claudia Eckert, Martin Stacey

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

As most engineering design proceeds by modifying past designs and reusing and adapting existing components and solution principles, a significant part of the knowledge engineers employ in design is encapsulated in the past designs they are familiar with. References to past designs, as well as encounters with them, serve to invoke the knowledge associated with them and constructed from them. This chapter argues that much of this knowledge is tacit consisting in and/or made available by the perceptual recognition of features and situations, using a discussion of design margins to illustrate how engineers use tacit knowledge in reasoning about the properties of new designs.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPhilosophy of Engineering and Technology
PublisherSpringer Nature
Pages55-66
Number of pages12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NamePhilosophy of Engineering and Technology
Volume45
ISSN (Print)1879-7202
ISSN (Electronic)1879-7210

Keywords

  • Design knowledge
  • Engineering design practice
  • Engineering epistemology
  • Know how
  • Object reference
  • Philosophy of design
  • Tacit knowledge

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