Transferring Responsibility Through Use Plans

Abstract

Engineers are initially responsible for the artefacts they produce, but at some point, part of the responsibility for the artefact shifts from the engineer to the user. This chapter will analyse how and when this transfer of responsibility takes place. Specifically, it will combine the theory of responsibility and control of Fischer and Ravizza (1998) and the use plan theory of knowledge of artefact functions by Houkes and Vermaas (2004) into a new theoretical framework which specifies the conditions under which this transfer can take place. After introducing both theories and combining them, I will give an example of how the combined theory works and apply it to a test case to show how it functions in practice.