Ellen,
It is interesting what you say about ethics especially about
responsibility - kind of unfashionable but a key human issue.
I feel that the importance of ethics in research into designing is because
it is essential to studying how designers make judgements. That is the
inclusion of ethics is important in epistemological terms. The necessity of
including ethics as a part of a coherent design theory is because ethics is
the study of how and why particular judgements occur. That is, it is the
study of choosing 'this' rather than 'that'. It includes the identification
of 'more', 'less', 'better', 'worse', 'agree', 'disagree', 'proceed', 'stop'
and other judgement criteria alongside the moral criteria of 'good' and
'bad'. Ethics, in this sense, is a core issue in the study of designing.
Viewing the role of ethics in this way suggests that the study of the role
of ethics in designing depends on the means through which aesthetics
operates. Which in a roundabout way explains why it is unhelpful to locate
aesthetic value in designs, or in objects themselves.
I look forward to your comments.
Best wishes
Terry
Love Design and Research
GPO Box 226
Quinns Rocks WA 6030
+61 8 9305 7629
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of E.M. Young
Sent: Thursday, 7 September 2000 10:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: Ken Friedman; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Design, theory, marketing and environment.
Dear All,
At the risk of incurring Ken's ire at conflating a couple of topics
(;-)), may I suggest that to the 'design canon' suggestions along with
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations we add The Theory of Moral Sentiment?
Several years ago a friend suggested that to read the one (Wealth of
Nations) without the other (Theory of Moral Sentiment) was at the root
of much of our problems today.
I recently questioned a collegue's inclusion of ethics in a meta-theory
of design; after some consideration of the world (too much of which I
take for granted), I realised he was quite correct and to be applauded
for stating the necessary.
Design without ethics is shortsighted at best and sheer profiteering at
worst. The more talent a designer has, the more responsibility a
designer has to design ethically? It may sound harsh, but I'm pretty
sure it's true.
Regards,
Ellen Young
School of Design
Curtin University of Technology
Perth, Western Australia
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