Dear Cay,
I am now in the 3rd year of a PhD project that is closely related to your
enquiry. I agree that worldview is more fundamental than ethics. Worldviews,
paradigms or epistemological positions determine ethical points of view, as
well has how we put our positions into practice. I have developed this idea
by focusing on epistemology as a basis for our understanding of our
relationship with nature, and therefor the building blocks of ethical
positions in regards to the environment. There is a great deal of work
developed in this area by educators for sustainability (Stephen Sterling,
Peter Reason, David Orr, Fritjof Capra), within environmental
ethics(Leopold, Naess, Spretnak,
Plumwood) and related fields (Meadows, Bateson, Bohm).
Anthropocentricism is at the heart of the critique of the dominant
epistemological position. Another dominant critique is our basic failure to
recognize our essential embeddedness within ecological systems, and the
subsequent failure to take ecological limits into account. I have written
about 'epistemological
error'<http://www.eco-labs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=201:ecolabs-at-the-learning-from-the-crisis-of-2007-2009-philosophy-of-management-conference&catid=14:research-a-papers&Itemid=75>in
a recent paper here:
s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.../*Epistemological*_*Error*_-_May_2010.pdf<http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.../Epistemological_Error_-_May_2010.pdf>
This paper critiques a reductive approach to business management and
economics but is equally valid for design practice.
Perception of risk is an important theme in our understanding of our
relationship to the natural world and is developed by Ulrich Beck and
others. I recommend the journal 'Environmental Communications' for papers on
this theme. Communication theorists have developed an extensive
understanding of how the concept of risk can help facilitate an
understanding of environmental problems.
Most Codes of Practice that I am aware of take a very limited view of our
ethical responsibilities. I would suggest that this is due to
epistemological error, or in more simple terms - a fragmented worldview in
dominant design discourses (minoring mainstream discourses outside of
design). The consequences of this problem are severe and are already a
primary cause of converging social, ecological and economic crisis.
At the Teach-in<http://www.eco-labs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=136&Itemid=73>we
did last year, we introduced ethical guidelines for designers based on
Leopold's basic preset: *'A thing is right when it tend so preserve the
integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when
it tends otherwise'.* **Aldo Leopold. The Land Ethic. 1947 This obviously
needs quite alot of fleshing out to figure out how it would be put into
practice! Some starting points would include: dramatically reducing the need
for fossil fuels and the environmental footprint of the materials, products,
processes and spaces that we design. As a means of catalyzing change in
design universities we published two documents; one about embedding this
ethic<http://www.teach-in.eco-labs.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=91>in
design education, and the other a practical
document<http://www.eco-labs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=193:10-in-2010-at-universities&catid=1:latest&Itemid=46>aimed
at reducing carbon emissions on campus. I worked with a group of
design lecturers from several different universities developing these ideas
for the Teach-in so this project might be an example of an attempt to
co-design a CoP. The project is on-going <http://teach-in.ning.com/> but is,
unfortunately, far more than I can manage while I finish my PhD.
All the best,
J
Jody Joanna Boehnert
Director | EcoLabs | www.eco-labs.org | Brixton, London
AHRC sponsored PhD candidate | University of Brighton
0772 555 1550 | Twitter: @ecolabs
>
> On 11 November 2010 12:04, cay green <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hello Everybody,
>>
>>
>> I am currently working on a PhD proposal. I intend to research the area of
>> Responsible Design Practices (RDP) in groups of design practitioners. More
>> specifically I am interested in exploring how a practitioner’s world-view
>> influences their likelihood of engaging with RDP. I see ‘world-view’ as
>> being different to ethics – I am thinking more of the degree to which they
>> have an anthropocentric view of the world or how they perceive risk.
>>
>>
>> Has anybody come across an attempt to facilitate the co-development of a
>> set
>> of guidelines for RDP that uses a co-design approach? I guess I am looking
>> specifically at design practitioners, but other professions would be
>> relevant.
>>
>>
>> I am aware of several Codes of Practice (CoP) already in existence
>> specifically aimed at design practitioners, but I am interested in less
>> prescriptive methods. Does anybody have any examples?
>>
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Cay Green
>>
>
>
|