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Günter Ropohl
Günter Ropohl (14 June 1939 in Cologne, Germany – 28 January 2017) was a German philosopher of technology. Biography Günter Ropohl studied mechanical engineering and philosophy at Stuttgart University, where he was a scholar of the philosopher Max Bense. After his PhD ( Dr.-Ing.) in 1970, he wrote his Habilitation thesis in Philosophy und Sociology at Karlsruhe University 1978 under the supervision of Hans Lenk. His work dealt with the systems theory of " Technik" (engl. ''technique''), leading to the concept of general technology. In 1979, Ropohl became professor at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH). Soon after, in 1981, he became professor for Allgemeine Technologie (general technology) and philosophy of technology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main, Germany (until 2004). In the 1980s, he visited his colleague and friend Carl Mitcham in the United States. From 1983 to 1991, i.e. during the period of the Cold War, he was course director and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn Region, Cologne Bonn urban region. Cologne is also part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the List of EU metropolitan regions by GDP#2021 ranking of top four German metropolitan regions, second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. Centered on the left bank of the Rhine, left (west) bank of the Rhine, Cologne is located on the River Rhine (Lower Rhine), about southeast of the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf and northwest of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. The city's medieval Cologne Cathedral () was the History of the world's tallest buildings#Churches and cathedrals: Tallest buildings between the 13th and 20th century, world's talles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Italy to the west. Its capital and largest city, Zagreb, forms one of the country's Administrative divisions of Croatia, primary subdivisions, with Counties of Croatia, twenty counties. Other major urban centers include Split, Croatia, Split, Rijeka and Osijek. The country spans , and has a population of nearly 3.9 million. The Croats arrived in modern-day Croatia, then part of Illyria, Roman Illyria, in the late 6th century. By the 7th century, they had organized the territory into Duchy of Croatia, two duchies. Croatia was first internationally recognized as independent on 7 June 879 during the reign of Duke Branimir of Croatia, Branimir. Tomislav of Croatia, Tomis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Technical Sciences
Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who advises the director on the convincing portrayal of a subject in a film production * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is constructed or functions (also known as drafting) ** Technical file, a set of technical drawings * Technical death metal, a subgenre of death metal that focuses on complex rhythms, riffs, and song structures * Technical foul, an infraction of the rules in basketball usually concerning unsportsmanlike non-contact behavior * Technical geography, one of the main branches of geography * Technical rehearsal for a performance, often simply referred to as a technical * Technical support, a range of servic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engineering Sciences
Engineering physics (EP), sometimes engineering science, is the field of study combining pure science disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology) and engineering disciplines (computer, nuclear, electrical, aerospace, medical, materials, mechanical, etc.). In many languages, the term technical physics is also used. It has been used since 1861 by the German physics teacher in his publications. Terminology In some countries, both what would be translated as "engineering physics" and what would be translated as "technical physics" are disciplines leading to academic degrees. In China, for example, with the former specializing in nuclear power research (i.e. nuclear engineering), and the latter closer to engineering physics. In some universities and their institutions, an engineering physics (or applied physics) major is a discipline or specialization within the scope of engineering science, or applied science. Several related names have existed since th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Technology
Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as Kitchen utensil, utensils or machines, and intangible ones such as software. Technology plays a critical role in science, engineering, and everyday life. Technological advancements have led to significant changes in society. The earliest known technology is the stone tool, used during prehistory, followed by the control of fire—which in turn contributed to the Brain size, growth of the human brain and the development of language during the Pleistocene, Ice Age, according to the cooking hypothesis. The invention of the wheel in the Bronze Age allowed greater travel and the creation of more complex machines. More recent technological inventions, including the printing press, telephone, and the Internet, have lowered barriers to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knowledge
Knowledge is an Declarative knowledge, awareness of facts, a Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with individuals and situations, or a Procedural knowledge, practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often characterized as Truth, true belief that is distinct from opinion or guesswork by virtue of Justification (epistemology), justification. While there is wide agreement among philosophers that propositional knowledge is a form of true belief, many controversies focus on justification. This includes questions like how to understand justification, whether it is needed at all, and whether something else besides it is needed. These controversies intensified in the latter half of the 20th century due to a series of thought experiments called ''Gettier cases'' that provoked alternative definitions. Knowledge can be produced in many ways. The main source of empirical knowledge is perception, which involves the usage of the senses to learn about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Action Theory (philosophy)
Action theory or theory of action is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements of a more or less complex kind. This area of thought involves epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, jurisprudence, and philosophy of mind, and has attracted the strong interest of philosophers ever since Aristotle's ''Nicomachean Ethics'' (Third Book). With the advent of psychology and later neuroscience, many theories of action are now subject to empirical testing. Philosophical action theory, or the philosophy of action, should not be confused with sociological theories of social action, such as the action theory established by Talcott Parsons. Nor should it be confused with activity theory. Overview Basic action theory typically describes action as intentional behavior caused by an ''agent'' in a particular ''situation''. The agent's ''desires'' and ''beliefs'' (e.g. a person wanting a glass of water and believing that the clear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Document
A document is a writing, written, drawing, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of nonfiction, non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": the verb ' denotes "to teach". In the past, the word was usually used to denote written proof useful as evidence of a truth or fact. In the computer age, Computer Age, "document" usually denotes a primarily textual computer file, including its structure and format, e.g. fonts, colors, and Computer-generated imagery, images. Contemporarily, "document" is not defined by its transmission medium, e.g., paper, given the existence of electronic documents. "Documentation" is distinct because it has more denotations than "document". Documents are also distinguished from "Realia (library science), realia", which are three-dimensional objects that would otherwise satisfy the definition of "document" because they memorialize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function (engineering)
In engineering, a function is interpreted as a specific process, action or task that a system is able to perform.R.Barker, C. Longman, Case Method: Function and Process Modelling, Addison-Wesley Professional, 1992. In engineering design In the lifecycle of engineering projects, there are usually distinguished subsequently: ''Requirements'' and ''Functional specification'' documents. The ''Requirements'' usually specifies the most important attributes of the requested system. In the ''Design specification'' documents, physical or software processes and systems are frequently the requested functions In products For advertising and marketing of technical products, the number of functions they can perform is often counted and used for promotion. For example a calculator capable of the basic mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, would be called a "four-function" model; when other operations are added, for example for scientific, financial, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utility
In economics, utility is a measure of a certain person's satisfaction from a certain state of the world. Over time, the term has been used with at least two meanings. * In a normative context, utility refers to a goal or objective that we wish to maximize, i.e., an objective function. This kind of utility bears a closer resemblance to the original utilitarian concept, developed by moral philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. * In a descriptive context, the term refers to an ''apparent'' objective function; such a function is revealed by a person's behavior, and specifically by their preferences over lotteries, which can be any quantified choice. The relationship between these two kinds of utility functions has been a source of controversy among both economists and ethicists, with most maintaining that the two are distinct but generally related. Utility function Consider a set of alternatives among which a person has a preference ordering. A utility fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Material Culture
Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The field considers artifacts in relation to their specific cultural and historic contexts, communities and belief systems. It includes the usage, consumption, creation and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms and rituals that the objects create or take part in. Material culture is contrasted with symbolic culture or non-material culture, which include non-material symbols, beliefs and social constructs. However, some scholars include in material culture other intangible phenomena like sound, smell and events, while some even consider it to include language and media. Material culture can be described as any object that humans use to survive, define social relationships, represent facets of identity, or benefit peoples' state of mind, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 11, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and systems theorist. Niklas Luhmann is one of the most influential German sociologists of the 20th century. His thinking was based on the philosophical tradition and at the same time the reception of a wide variety of concepts from modern science. From this foundation he developed a functionalist-oriented systems theory, which claims to be able to describe all social phenomena in a theoretically consistent language. Social systems are understood as communication contexts that have autonomy from the actors involved in them. On this basis, three types of social systems can be distinguished: interaction, organization and society. On his general theory he developed a social theory, which describes modern society as a global society that is characterized by an internal differentiation into various autonomously working ''functional areas'' such as politics, la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
