Abstract
This paper states that in order to contribute to epistemology design must clarify its ontological perspective. The act of designing occupies a position fundamentally different from the natural sciences that examine only things or matter and is also beyond the social sciences that deal with people and their relations. In this paper design departs from the relationship of people and things, of subjects and objects. It proposes that within the relationship of subjects to objects, of people to things and thus also of designers to the products they design, there are three different ontological positions. A corresponding epistemological position of people and things is to be found in the notion of a material culture. Because things have become aesthetic objects, they are finalities, not instrumentalities, not means to an end. Kant’s notion of the aesthetic judgement shows a train of thought that links to the conceptual aspects of the design process. Design as a material practice condenses, transforms and materializes concepts. These concepts are singular and not universal. It is a perspective not of ‘things made’, but of ‘things in the making’, a discourse of designing itself and diagrammatic in nature. The notion of concept in design is an own level of analogous reasoning.
Citation
Verwijnen, J. (2002) Ontological depth of the designed object from instrumental reason to reflective judgement, 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/85
Ontological depth of the designed object from instrumental reason to reflective judgement
This paper states that in order to contribute to epistemology design must clarify its ontological perspective. The act of designing occupies a position fundamentally different from the natural sciences that examine only things or matter and is also beyond the social sciences that deal with people and their relations. In this paper design departs from the relationship of people and things, of subjects and objects. It proposes that within the relationship of subjects to objects, of people to things and thus also of designers to the products they design, there are three different ontological positions. A corresponding epistemological position of people and things is to be found in the notion of a material culture. Because things have become aesthetic objects, they are finalities, not instrumentalities, not means to an end. Kant’s notion of the aesthetic judgement shows a train of thought that links to the conceptual aspects of the design process. Design as a material practice condenses, transforms and materializes concepts. These concepts are singular and not universal. It is a perspective not of ‘things made’, but of ‘things in the making’, a discourse of designing itself and diagrammatic in nature. The notion of concept in design is an own level of analogous reasoning.