Hi Mark,
One of the premises of academia from Socrates onwards is that the validity
of theory should be independent of subjective judgement, particularly about
the author.
The main thrust of theory making from the Greek school was to remove
rhetoric and rhetorically-based judgement from theory making and judgements
about the quality of theory.
In other words, for sound theory making avoid any taint of rhetoric and its
trappings (status of speaker etc).
This Greek originated endeavour to ensure rhetoric is not part of validating
theory is the basis of contemporary academic theory-making
I feel its of concern on this list if we start to judge validity of theory
in terms of the status and background of who is writing.
Judging the validity of theory on the basis of the status of who is writing
has three adverse effects. It compromises the validity and testing of design
theory (already a serious problem in design research due to misplaced use of
rhetoric). It discourages participation by those with less status. Perhaps
worse, it necessarily results in conservative theory making aligned to the
agreed views of a high status group. This latter is a particular problem in
the current situation where there is a need for significant radical change
in design theory because much of the existing design theory is out-date and
doesn't stand up to critical scrutiny.
I suggest insisting on accuracy of reasoning and sound evidence is a
better way forward for identifying credibility than counting the number of
the author's prefect badges (unless of course one is 'blackboard monitor').
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Evans
<snip>I am sorry to hear that you are not prepared to be transparent about
your current professional position. That is not only unusual within an
academic community but it will also make it impossible for myself and others
to make an informed judgement about the credibility of your postings.<end>
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