Abstract
The invention of the light bulb is without any doubt one of the major inventions of the nineteenth century. It changed life profoundly in that it made human activities independent of the natural light circumstances on a hitherto unknown scale. The idea of electric light goes back to Humphrey Davy. He discovered that an electric arc between two poles could produce light. This phenomenon, however, was rather unpractical for home applications and could not be an alternative to existing gas light. New ideas were explored on the basis of the theoretical work on heat production in resistant conductors. An electric current could heat a conductor to such an extent that it would glow white-hot. Joseph Wilson Swan was the first to construct an electric light bulb on these physical principles. It contained a thin strip of material (filament) in an oxygen-free environment to prevent the strip from burning. An electric current heated the strip. He had, however, serious trouble maintaining the vacuum in the light bulb. Thomas Edison was able to solve this problem and at the same time to construct stable enough carbon wire that could function as filament. On October 21, 1879, he illuminated an electric lamp that glowed continuously for 40 h. That was an enormous achievement in those days.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Quotations are taken from the patent description found at the extensive Edison website at Rutgers University: http://edison.rutgers.edu/. See also the Appendix.
- 2.
ibid.
- 3.
See Appendix, page 2.
- 4.
We will concentrate here mainly on knowledge with regard to a specific type of technological artefacts, namely, physical/chemical artefacts. We expect, however, that our conclusions with regard to the various types of knowledge involved in this kind of technological artefacts may be generalized to biological artefacts and socio-technical systems. This may not be true for software (probably best conceived as an incomplete artefact).
- 5.
It is important to note that in engineering practice structural and functional descriptions are often mixed; Edison’s description of his invention is a clear example of this. This does not mean, however, that purely structural and functional descriptions play no role in engineering practice; shop floor drawings with specifications of the materials to be used are an example of purely structural descriptions and functional decompositions of complex artefacts, an example of purely functional descriptions.
- 6.
We will not discuss extensively the kinds of knowledge involved in the use of technical artefacts. At first sight, it appears that this will not add any new types of knowledge to the ones mentioned so far. Clearly, prescriptive knowledge is important in this context (cf. the user manual) and know-how.
- 7.
In spite of the criticism that has been raised against this account, it is still of paramount importance in epistemology; we will not enter into the discussion whether or not this criticism can be met by simply introducing extra or altering some of the conditions stated.
- 8.
It may be questioned whether there is something special about the justification of this kind of propositional knowledge from the first person perspective: suppose John claims that he knows that he knows how to ride a bike; what is the role of perception and action in the justification of this claim?
- 9.
It is interesting to note that Audi (p. 75) interprets beliefs as dispositions; this means that if propositional knowledge is taken to be some kind of belief (true, justified etc.), then propositional knowledge, just as know-how, is of a dispositional nature.
References
Audi, R. 1998. Epistemology; a contemporary introduction to the theory of knowledge. New York: Routledge.
Dancy, J. 1985. Introduction to contemporary epistemology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.
Dewey, J. 1929. The quest for certainty; a study of the relation of knowledge and action. In John Dewey the Later Works, 1925–1953: 1929/the quest for certainty by Jo Ann Boydston (Editor), Stephen Toulmin (introduction) and John Dewey.
Houkes, W.N. 2009. The nature of technological knowledge. In A.W.M. Meijers (ed.) 2009.
Lemos, N. 2007. An introduction to the theory of knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 232 pp.
Martin, A.L. (ed.). 1998. Epistemology: The big questions. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
McAllister, J.W. 1997. Laws of nature, natural history, and the description of the world. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 11: 245–258.
Meijers, A.W.M. (ed.). 2009. Philosophy of technology and engineering sciences, 1st edn. (Handbook philosophy of science), vol. 9, 1453 pp. Amsterdam: North Holland
Mitcham, C. 1994. Thinking through technology; The path between engineering and philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (Chapter 8: “Types of technology as knowledge”).
Morton, A. 1997. A guide through the theory of knowledge. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Mumford, S. 1998. Dispositions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Polanyi, M. 1978. Personal knowledge. London: Routledge (1958, 1st edn.).
Pollock, J.L. 1986. Contemporary theories of knowledge. Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield.
Pryor, J. 2001. Highlights of recent epistemology. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52: 95–124.
Searle, J.R. 1995. The construction of social reality. New York: The Free Press.
Sosa, E., and J. Kim (eds.). 2000. Epistemology; an anthology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Stanley, J., and T. Williamson. 2001. Knowing how. The Journal of Philosophy 97: 411–444.
Vincenti, W.G. 1990. What engineers know and how they know it; Analytical studies from aeronautical history. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press (Chapter 7: “The Anatomy of Engineering Design Knowledge”).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix: Edison’s Patent
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meijers, A.W.M., Kroes, P.A. (2013). Extending the Scope of the Theory of Knowledge. In: de Vries, M., Hansson, S., Meijers, A. (eds) Norms in Technology. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5243-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5243-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5242-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5243-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)