Rationality has different meanings within different contexts. In engineering design, to be rational usually means to be instrumentally rational, that is, to take a measured decision aimed at the realization of a particular goal, as in attempts to optimize an objective function. But in many engineering design problems, especially those that involve several engineers collaborating on a design task, there is no obvious or uncontested, unique objective function. An alternative approach then takes the locus of optimization to be individual engineers’ utility functions. In this paper, we address an argument which claimed that unless the engineers hold a common utility function over design alternatives, a suboptimal, hence, irrational, design is bound to ensue. We challenge this claim and show that, while sticking to the utility-function approach but adopting a game-theoretic perspective, rational outcomes to the problem at issue are possible.
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November 2004
Technical Papers
On Rationality in Engineering Design
Maarten Franssen, Universitair Docent,,
Maarten Franssen, Universitair Docent,
Delft University of Technology, Faculty of TPM, Section of Philosophy, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands
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Louis L. Bucciarelli, Professor,
Louis L. Bucciarelli, Professor,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 5-213, Cambridge, MA 02139
Search for other works by this author on:
Maarten Franssen, Universitair Docent,
Delft University of Technology, Faculty of TPM, Section of Philosophy, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands
Louis L. Bucciarelli, Professor,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 5-213, Cambridge, MA 02139
Contributed by the Design Theory and Methodology Committee for publication in the JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN. Manuscript received November 10, 2003; revised March 12, 2004. Associate Editor: C. Dym.
J. Mech. Des. Nov 2004, 126(6): 945-949 (5 pages)
Published Online: February 14, 2005
Article history
Received:
November 10, 2003
Revised:
March 12, 2004
Online:
February 14, 2005
Citation
Franssen, M., and Bucciarelli, L. L. (February 14, 2005). "On Rationality in Engineering Design ." ASME. J. Mech. Des. November 2004; 126(6): 945–949. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1803850
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