ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to an extended version of Dependability Engineering, namely, Cognitive Dependability Engineering (CDE). It deals with systems of very high complexity, called human-centric cyber-physical-social systems, and the research perspective of these systems is focused on the continuity of operation and functioning. At the core of the CDE is the concept of trustworthy performance, and the research method recommended for such defined cognitive objects is transdisciplinarity. The chapter firstly discusses key features of scientific theories, and conditions of scientific cognition according to the Einstein’s model. Then it was suggested the process of emergence of a new science, which can be divided into three main stages. According to this model, the general concept of Cognitive Dependability Engineering has been proposed, and its area of applicability depending on the complexity of the systems and the level of uncertainty. The foundations of the elicitation procedure as a basis for cognitive dependability assessment of complex systems are presented, and a pre-paradigm for a new field of knowledge, Cognitive Dependability Engineering, is proposed.
