I've been enjoying this thread on design, intention and evolution, especially the discussion of Dennett's Design Stance.
Those working in this area might be interested in reading a recent paper by Pieter Vermaas, et al. They disambiguate Dennett’s original design stance by splitting it into two design stances: an intentional designer stance that incorporates the intentional stance, and a teleological design stance that does not.
- Vermaas, P. E., Carrara, M., Borgo, S., & Garbacz, P. (2013). The design stance and its artefacts. Synthese, 190(6), 1131–1152.
Some who attended the excellent CEPHAD 2010 conference discussed an earlier version of this paper when it was called "The Design and the Designer Stance".
Tim Lewen's book might also be of interest. He explores the apparent contradiction of evolutionary biologists talking of design, or adopting what he calls an "artifact model" of biological systems.
- Lewens, T. (2005). Organisms and artifacts: design in nature and elsewhere. MIT Press.
Finally, Beth Preston has been concerned with the design or evolution of biological systems, technical artefacts and material culture. This has recently been summarised in her new book.
- Preston, B. (2013). A Philosophy of Material Culture: Action, Function, and Mind. Routledge.
What connects these three texts is that they explore the notion of 'function', a concept that this list discussed in September last year. The use of the word function in natural language suggests a connection between how we regard biological systems and artificial systems (hearts have the 'function' of pumping blood; electric motors have the 'function' of converting electrical energy to kinetic energy). Function theorists have worked to understand what this connection reveals about our perspectives on these two types of system, considering issues of causality, intention and evolution, amongst others.
In addition to Beth Preston's summary, the following text provides a useful (design-oriented) outline and integration of function theory (as previously recommended by Terence Love):
- Houkes, W., & Vermaas, P. E. (2010). Technical Functions: On the Use and Design of Artefacts. Springer.
So, function theory might have valuable perspectives to offer for those working on issues of intention and evolution in 'design'.
Best wishes,
Nathan
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design
Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|