De Jong, Eline and De Haro, Sebastian (2026) A Contextual Approach to Technological Understanding and Its Assessment. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Technological understanding is not a singular concept but varies depending on the context. Building on De Jong and De Haro’s (2025) notion of technological understanding as the ability to realise an aim by using a technological artefact, this paper further refines the concept as an ability that varies by context and degree. We extend its original specification for a design context by introducing two additional contexts: operation and innovation. Each context represents a distinct way of realising an aim through technology, resulting in three types (specifications) of technological understanding. To further clarify the nature of technological understanding, we propose an assessment framework based on counterfactual reasoning. Each type of understanding is associated with the ability to answer a specific set of what-if questions, addressing changes in an artefact’s structure, performance, or appropriateness. Explicitly distinguishing these different types helps to focus efforts to improve technological understanding, clarifies the epistemic requirements for different forms of engagement with technology, and promotes a pluralistic perspective on expertise.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
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| Keywords: | Technological understanding, scientific understanding, technological artefacts, design, operation, innovation, counterfactual reasoning, expertise | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Computer Science General Issues > Philosophers of Science General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Technology |
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| Depositing User: | Ms. Eline de Jong | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 13 May 2026 09:58 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 13 May 2026 09:58 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 29600 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Computer Science General Issues > Philosophers of Science General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Technology |
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| Date: | 2026 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29600 |
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