References
Boon, M. 2011. In defence of engineering sciences. On the epistemological relations between science and technology. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 15(1): 49–71.
Boon, M. Forthcoming. Scientific concepts in the engineering sciences: epistemic tools for creating and intervening with phenomena. In scientific concepts and investigative practice, eds. Feest, U., and F. Steinle. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter GMBH & CO. KG, Series: Berlin Studies in Knowledge Research.
Diamond, J. 1997. Guns, germs and steel. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Houkes, W. 2008. Designing is the construction of use plans. In Philosophy and design: from engineering to architecture, eds. P.E. Vermaas, P. Kroes, A. Light, and S. Moore, 37–49. Dordrecht: Springer.
Houkes, W., and P.E. Vermaas. 2009. Contemporary engineering and the metaphysics of artefacts. The Monist 92: 403–419.
Lipton, Peter. 1993. Making a difference. Philosophica 51: 39–54.
Machamer, Peter, Darden Lindley, and Carl Craver. 2000. Thinking about mechanisms. Philosophy of Science 67: 1–25.
Matthen, M. 1997. Teleology and the product analogy. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 75: 21–37.
Pandit, A., H. de Groot, and A. Holzwarth (eds.). 2006. Harnessing solar energy for the production of clean fuel. White Paper by an international task force under the auspices of the European Science Foundation. ISBN 978-90-9023907-1 http://ssnmr.leidenuniv.nl/files/ssnmr/CleanSolarFuels.pdf.
Petroski, H. 1992. The evolution of useful things. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Savolainen, J., R. Fanciulli, N. Dijkhuizen, A.L. Moore, J. Hauer, T. Buckup, M. Motzkus, and J.L. Herek. 2008. Controlling the efficiency of an artificial light-harvesting complex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 105(22): 7641–7646.
Strevens, M. 2008. Depth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Thomasson, A. 2003. Realism and human kinds. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 67: 580–609.
Thomasson, A. 2007. Artefacts and human concepts. In Creations of the mind, ed. E. Margolis, and S. Laurence, 52–73. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vermaas, P.E. 2010. Focusing philosophy of engineering: analyses of technical functions and beyond. In Philosophy and engineering: an emerging agenda, ed. I. van de Poel, and D.E. Goldberg, 61–73. Dordrecht: Springer.
Weber, Erik, and Helena de Preester. 2005. Micro-explanations of laws. In In structures in scientific cognition. Essays in debate with Theo Kuipers, volume 2, eds. R. Festa, A. Aliseda, and J. Peijnenburg, 177–186. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Wouters, A.G. 2003. Four notions of biological function. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 34: 633–668.
Wouters, A.G. 2005. The function debate in philosophy. Acta Biotheoretica 53: 123–151.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Raoul Gervais (Ghent University) for his comments on each contribution.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weber, E., Reydon, T.A.C., Boon, M. et al. The ICE-theory of technical functions. Metascience 22, 23–44 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11016-012-9642-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11016-012-9642-9