I think the question is, "Is there independent origination in design?"
I've always enjoyed the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna's take on the
possibility of independent origination. His take is that the cycle of
cause and effect is ongoing - there are causes for each thing. The
never ending relationship can seem like cause and effect disappear, and
yet the cause and effect are still there. The knife and the apple - is
the cause of the cut the apple itself, the knife, or the desire of the
cutter? The knife could not exist without the original desire to cut
that may or may not have the apple in mind - maybe the desire to cut
came from an intention to declare war which originated from anger
self-defense or hubris... If this is true, then is war the cause of
the cut in the apple? For Najarjuna this type of possibility is
present in the cut of the apple, but doesn't provide a lot of specific
information for the person considering the issue. It is more to allow
for expansiveness of possibility, something that seems very important
at a certain point in the design process. At the same time, once you
get down to the apple and the knife you can't ignore the relationship
between knife cut and intent of the cutter by saying it is the result
of the war.
In design, of whatever type, it seems that there is a moment preceding
choice where the relationship between cause and effect is latent in
many many things, but ultimately choices need to be made based on many
supplemental causes (from the perspective of "pure" design) such as
safety, marketability, cost effectiveness, and so on, and at that point
the potential causes come down to a point where it would be
irresponsible or possibly unethical to stretch to far beyond those
present causes.
Alan
On Jan 4, 2005, at 8:54 AM, Rosan Chow wrote:
> Thanks Charles. Precisely, it is only a conceptual distinction, no
> more no
> less!? - Rosan
>
> Charles Burnette User wrote:
>
>> On 1/4/05 3:11 AM, "Rosan Chow" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> I have said that often cause and effect is indistinguishable, and
>>> here
>>> is an example:
>>>
>>> try imagine a knief cutting through an apple, are we seeing cause or
>>> effect of a cut?
>>>
>>> fun, huh?
>>>
>>> rosan
>>> p.s. sorry, i couldn't locate the source of the apple cutting
>>> story...i
>>> have not developed the scholarly virtue of taking meticulous notes
>>> when
>>> reading.
>>
>> Rosan: Consider the act of cutting (or the knife) the cause and the
>> cut its
>> effect. If you don't make the distinction you don't apply the concept.
>>
>> Chuck
>
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