Hi Ann
Thanks for your post and your interesting question. I think this
relationship is not examined enough in design, we definitely need more of
it.
I have personally found a lot of inspiration on the topic of the role and
"power" of artifacts in the field of the philosophy of technology. Even
though these thinkers ideas might not always be "userfriendly" and not
necessarily design oriented they do provide some deep insights and ask
difficult questions essential in this debate.
My own favorites are Borgmann, Feenberg, Mitcham, and the newest addition
Verbeek (see refs below). Of course, Winner (that you mention) belongs to
this list. And also the "first mover" in this field, Heidegger.
I would also add two other thinkers, not really in the field, but authors of
books that have had serious impact on my way of thinking about the role and
power of artifacts and that is Latour and Marcuse.
If you get a list later on, I would like to see it :-)
Best
Erik Stolterman
Borgmann, A. (1984) *Technology and the Character of Contemporary
Life:*A Philosophical Inquiry. Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press.
Feenberg, A. (1999) *Questioning Technology*. London: Routledge.
Heidegger, M. (1977) *The Question concerning Technology and other
Essays*, New York: Harper & Row
Latour, B. (1993) *We have never been modern*. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press
Marcuse, H. (1964)* One Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of
Advanced Industrial Society*. Boston: Beacon Press.
Mitcham, C. (1994). Thinking through technology : the path between
engineering and philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Verbeek, P-P. (2005) *What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on
Technology, Agency and Design.* University Park: Pennsylvania University
Press.
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