Abstract
While Schön’s work is prominent in design literature, some of its concepts stay unclear. In this paper we examine the distinctions Schön made in 1992 between “reflection-in-action” and “reflection on reflection-in-action” (or “conversation with the situation” and “reflective conversation with the situation”). To clarify the meaning of these two terms, we will refer to pragmatist philosophy, using Dewey’s work on inquiry and epistemology. Our results show that there is indeed a difference between the two expressions. Moreover, revisiting Dewey’s and Schön’s work allows for a new visual representation of the reflection-in-action process, which can then be used as a tool to enhance the designers’ reflection on reflection-in-action.
Keywords
reflection-in-action, reflective practice, pragmatist inquiry, Dewey
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.349
Citation
Chiapello, L., and Bousbaci, R. (2022) It’s complicated: Dewey, Schön and reflection-in-action, in Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.349
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Research Paper
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It’s complicated: Dewey, Schön and reflection-in-action
While Schön’s work is prominent in design literature, some of its concepts stay unclear. In this paper we examine the distinctions Schön made in 1992 between “reflection-in-action” and “reflection on reflection-in-action” (or “conversation with the situation” and “reflective conversation with the situation”). To clarify the meaning of these two terms, we will refer to pragmatist philosophy, using Dewey’s work on inquiry and epistemology. Our results show that there is indeed a difference between the two expressions. Moreover, revisiting Dewey’s and Schön’s work allows for a new visual representation of the reflection-in-action process, which can then be used as a tool to enhance the designers’ reflection on reflection-in-action.