the need
Design Philosophy Papers (DPP) comes from a longstanding desire to gain greater
recognition for the study of design by the intellectual community at large,
as well as our frustration with the market-driven conservatism of design publishing.
It aims to break away from the idea of design as a specialist interest, as well
as rejecting the simplistic and debased way design arrives before the public
via both old and new media — frequently merely as style or technics. It
also comes with a passion to communicate, share and argue for a much, much greater
general recognition of importance of design and ‘the designed’ as
managed and unwitting agents of force and power.
on design
The idea of design informing DPP is very broad: it gathers architecture and
products, images and information, the aesthetic and the technical. It also engages
process and practice, object and structure, economy and politics, human agency
and the agency of designed things.
Design is viewed with status in its own right — it is neither subordinated
to the arts or sciences.
on design philosophy
As any search of a comprehensive library catalogue or the web will reveal, design
philosophy hardly exists. The chances of it becoming an established academic
discipline, even if this were desirable, are slight (perhaps this is an issue
to debate in DPP). However, getting design taken seriously as an object of philosophical
inquiry by design and cultural theorists of all kinds across the full range
of design practices is quite a different story. Likewise getting design to be
regarded as a critically significant area of philosophical inquiry by philosophers
would be of considerable consequence, and not just for design. Rather than simply
continuing to assert these views DPP aims to demonstrate their validity in this
and subsequent editions.
As for philosophy, design itself hardly exists. Yet design is a crucial factor in the relation between beings and worlds as they shape each other. In this context it is not a matter of just asserting the need for design to be engaged philosophically, but rather that philosophy engage design for the sake of philosophy.
why papers?
The notion of papers seeks to evoke collections of difference, seriousness,
working ideas, objects of exchange and writing. ‘Papers’ connote
something more open than a complete manuscript. The term has a somewhat arcane
ring — after all this is the electronic domain - why not conversations,
a chat-room or the like? Instead of facilitating instantaneous ephemeral exchanges,
we are recovering the idea of a paper as something considered, thoughtful, a
product of work and effort, something of substance you can read, re-read and
take away in your thoughts. A paper also stands in opposition to a blurb, pitch
or spin.
the mission
Design Philosophy Papers (DPP) sets out to contribute to a far more informed
understanding of design and the agency of design in the made world. It also
aims to develop the level of comprehension of the made world’s impact
upon ‘natural systems,’ mind, cultures and the prefiguration of
futures. In this context, design is understood as encompassing directive thought,
design practices, design process, designed objects, structures and environments.
The agency of design stems from actions associated with all of these.
The horizon of concern of Design Philosophy Papers is framed by two crucial
characteristics of our time: the continual expansion of the unsustainable and
the end of any distinction between the natural and the artificial. This situation
means that it is vital to address issues in, and of, technology, culture and
ethics.
In broad terms, Design Philosophy Papers aims to:
1. present new, rigorous and critical thinking in design;
2. examine the nature of the world as designed and deepen
understanding of design as elemental to human making;
3. critically engage designed materiality;
4. help build an intellectual community committed to creative, relevant and
adventurous thinking about design.
Design Philosophy Papers distinguishes itself from design history and design
methods, in that it aims to extend concern with design beyond the activities
of designers, and to communicate the necessity of an intellectual engagement
and dialogue with design by many disciplines. It promotes reflective thinking
on design from cognate areas such as cultural theory, anthropology, sociology,
ethical theory, philosophy of technology and philosophy. At the same time, it
will use perspectives from the study of design to critically challenge the norms
and adequacies of those fields in terms of their understanding of how humanity
acts to shape its world.
Given these high ambitions, Design
Philosophy Papers can only be embraced as a long term project.