There, I fixed it! On the status and meaning of repair

• Type: Chapter or Part of a Book
• Date: 2024

Authors

Carvalho, Tiago Mesquita (Author) FLUP

Book

Title: Maintenance and philosophy of technology: keeping things going

Pages: 86-112

ISBN: 978-1-032-32686-3 (HBK); 978-1-03232687-0 (pbk)

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-003-31621-3

Publisher: Routledge

Other information

Abstract (EN): What does it mean to repair? Can there be a science of repair formalised in steps and procedures? This chapter provides a general theory of artefact repair that takes into account the meaning of artefact function in the users’ lifeworld. This will be achieved by drawing on concepts from post-phenomenology and metaphysical theories of artefact function. Subsequently, an epistemology proper to repair will be explored to highlight how the nature of the knowledge used is an embodied contextual tacit skill. A definition of repair as a means to restore an artefact’s proper function and how one can tell whether a repair has succeeded is explored. This raises the question about the relationship between the knowledge involved in repairing and the knowledge involved in its design. Next, the ambiguity of artefacts is presented with a view to underline how proper function and designers’ intentions are not sufficient to appreciate their selection and variation in reproduction, as well as in the transfer dynamics between cultures. Scrutinising how the same artefacts are used and repaired in different cultures has analytical value for building a conceptual framework surrounding repair and maintenance. Repair is mostly about restoring the meaning a particular function acquires in the users’ lifeworld. The last section discusses the relationship between repair knowledge and scientific and technological knowledge employed in the design of artefacts. A distinction is made between formal repair knowledge and embodied personalised forms of knowledge hinging on oral transmission. Finally, a phenomenology of the repair attitude and its structure is presented.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific