The Practical Intellect : Computers and Skills

The epistemology of professional knowledge is a research field that occupies itself with the development and maintenance of professional knowledge at both an individual and working group level, but also at a community level. One of its major aims is to illustrate the effect of information technology on professional knowledge and to create the basis for a sound social and productive implementation of new technology in the workplace. This book strives to define the contours of this research field. The study extends directly into the centre of debates on the philosophy of the mind. Through a series of case studies, the author examines the conflict between mathematical calculation and human judgement, which arises when new technology competes with existing professional knowledge. He also provides a useful context for the major issues by looking at the historical development of the computer as a tool and examining the scientific and intellectual traditions, which have shaped design approaches. A chapter on education and professional knowledge covers the problems of balancing technology, human knowledge and working practices. Professor Göranzon insists that work studies require an understanding of the fact that thinking about work and skill is always rooted in a tradition and that the awareness of a number of different historical perspectives on these matters has a liberating effect.

Bo Göranzon is professor emeritus of Skill and Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm and Life Long Research Fellow of Clare Hall at Cambridge University. Since 1985 he's Artistic Director for the Dialogue Seminar at The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.