Bengt Molander

The ?eld of ‘Craft Sciences’ refers to research conducted across and within di?erent craft subjects and academic contexts. This anthology aims to expose the breadth of topics, source material, methods, perspectives, and results that reside in this ?eld, and to explore what unites the research in such diverse contexts as, for example, the arts, conserva-tion, or vocational craft education. The common thread between each of the chapters in the present book is the augmented attention given to methods—the craft research methods—and to the relationship between the ?eld of inquiry and the ?eld of practice. A common feature is that practice plays an instrumental role in the research found within the chapters, and that the researchers in this publication are also practitioners. The aut-hors are researchers but they are also potters, waiters, carpenters, gardeners, textile artists, boat builders, smiths, building conservators, painting restorers, furniture designers, il-lustrators, and media designers. The researchers contribute from di?erent research ?elds, like craft education, meal sciences, and conservation crafts, and from particular craft subjects, like boat-building and weaving. The main contribution of this book is that it collects together a number of related case studies and presents a re?ection on concepts, perspectives, and methods in the general ?elds of craft research from the point of view of craft practitioners. It adds to the existing academic discussion of crafts through its wider acknowledgement of craftsmanship and extends its borders and its discourse outside the arts and crafts context. This book provides a platform from which to develop context-appropriate research strategies and to associate with the Craft Sciences beyond the bor-ders of faculties and disciplines.

This book is a philosophical analysis of knowledge in practices, focused on knowing how, tacit knowledge and expert knowledge. Knowing in action is the key concept. It covers understanding, well-functioning routines as well as successful learning processes. It is argued that knowledge-in-action is more basic than propositional or theoretical knowledge. Key notions are knowing as a kind of attentiveness or a way of being in the world, knowing as continued learning, and knowledge as what leads people in the best way. The book is a contribution to the contemporary philosophical discussions about knowing how, tacit knowledge and expert knowledge. At the same time, it is written as an interdisciplinary and case-based introduction to the epistemology of knowing and learning.

Vetenskapsfilosofin är kritisk, den försöker dra fram tysta förutsättningar och antaganden i ljuset. Därför är denna bok, med dess kritiska granskning av begreppet vetenskap och våra föreställningar om vetenskap, ett bra komplement till den ”vanliga” utbildningen, främst inom högskolan.