Abstract
I start from two assertions: philosophy is our highest form of practical reasoning; design is our highest form of practical adaptation to our environment. I ask a question. What necessary conditions must exist for us to do both philosophising and designing? The method of argument I use is based on the philosophical methods of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and the principle of parsimony or Occam’s razor: what is the simplest set of ideas necessary to answer the question. The area of design on which I draw most heavily is the area in which I have done most of my designing and researching: information design. The argument leads to seeing designing and philosophising as either panaceas or prostheses. If we ‘change the aspect’ in a Wittgensteinian sense, we can move between these two. The practical and social implications of this conclusion suggest that ‘designing philosophy’ (in the full ambiguity that the phrase implies) may well be one of the most important aspects of intellectual life in the 21st Century.
Citation
Sless, D. (2002) Designing philosophy, in Durling, D. and Shackleton, J. (eds.), Common Ground - DRS International Conference 2002, 5-7 September, London, United Kingdom. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2002/researchpapers/74
Designing philosophy
I start from two assertions: philosophy is our highest form of practical reasoning; design is our highest form of practical adaptation to our environment. I ask a question. What necessary conditions must exist for us to do both philosophising and designing? The method of argument I use is based on the philosophical methods of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and the principle of parsimony or Occam’s razor: what is the simplest set of ideas necessary to answer the question. The area of design on which I draw most heavily is the area in which I have done most of my designing and researching: information design. The argument leads to seeing designing and philosophising as either panaceas or prostheses. If we ‘change the aspect’ in a Wittgensteinian sense, we can move between these two. The practical and social implications of this conclusion suggest that ‘designing philosophy’ (in the full ambiguity that the phrase implies) may well be one of the most important aspects of intellectual life in the 21st Century.