Cultural Code in Engineering Design

Abstract

The subject of the study is a cultural code that gives the key to deciphering the cultural text of technical design. The object of the study is the language of technical design. The research uses methods of analyzing visual symbols used in technical design, the method of analyzing previous studies, the method of synthesis in conclusions regarding the concept of cultural code. The authors consider the following aspects of the topic: semiotic approach to the theory of culture and the definition of cultural code in visual semiosis; morphology and semantics of technical symbols in engineering design; syntax and pragmatics of cultural text in engineering design. Special attention is paid to the theory of complex analysis of a technical scheme as an example of a holistic cultural text. The main conclusions of the study are: 1. The semiotic approach to the definition of culture involves considering the sign system from the point of view of the diversity of meanings of its elements (symbols), and identifying three categories of symbols: semantics, pragmatics and syntax. The cultural text of technical design (device diagrams) is (in comparison with the text of art) a stricter, invariant system; however, as in any language, the genesis associated with changes in syntactics can be traced in it. 2. The syntax of the cultural text of technical design can be analyzed only if there is a cultural code of this technical language. This code includes the "alphabet" of symbol elements, their semantics (variety of meanings), pragmatics (scope of application) and syntax (relationships that form a unique schema text). A special contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the systematization of the morphology of pictorial symbols in engineering design from the point of view of cultural studies. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the culturological reading of the technical text.