Dear Ken and List,
Ken, in your post you wrote, “What’s important to this thread, and to
Martin’s question, is not whether anyone is right – or even who – but the
nature and quality of the argument… I’m curious to see what others have to
say about this” (Friedman, 2013).
Here’s my view on what are the key aspects of what has been a fast moving
and wide-ranging group of threads.
Terry began by drawing a clear line between what he sees as two distinct
forms of writing. The first form uses rational thinking and logic; the
second form uses associative thinking and rhetoric (Love, 2013b).
Additionally, Terry claims that the first form of writing is solid and
“straight bat”, while the second form of writing is emotional and biased
(Love, 2013c). Terry also states that he prefers the first form of writing
because he claims that its reasoning is valid, and he claims that the
second form of writing should be avoided because its reasoning is
fallacious (Love, 2013c). Furthermore, Terry links rational thinking and
logic with Technical Design fields, and associative thinking and rhetoric
with Art and Design fields. He then claims (Love, 2013a):
-snip- The UK stats indicate only 4% of individuals that undertake degrees
in Art and Design obtain employment as designers. In engineering, the
employment from university is around 100% yet many go into design and
production support roles, and a couple of decades later become project
managers. -end snip-
Terry (Love, 2013a) continues stating, “The challenge is one of identifying
causality. Does the use of designers trained in a particular field result
in better outcomes for businesses?” and he admits that the statistics he
provides are “dodgy as anything”, however, he suggests that an overall
picture is better than no picture at all.
So, as I see it, Terry is making an argument in which he claims that
students graduating from Technical Design courses achieve around 100%
employment because they use rational thinking and logic, while students
graduating from Art and Design courses achieve only 4% employment because
they use associative thinking and rhetoric.
In my view, the quality of the argument depends upon the reasons that Terry
has provided to persuade us to accept his claims. Has Terry provided good
reasons that:
(1) There is a clear and distinct demarcation between writing that uses
rational thinking and logic, and writing that uses associative thinking and
rhetoric.
(2) That writing that uses rational thinking and logic is “solid” and valid
(3) That writing that uses associative thinking and rhetoric is emotional
and biased.
(4) That Technical Design fields use rational thinking and logic
(5) That Art and Design fields that use associative thinking and rhetoric.
(6) That the use of rational thinking and logic in Technical Design fields
causes high rates of graduate employment
(7) That the use associative thinking and rhetoric in Art and Design fields
causes low rates of graduate employment.
Because the burden of proof is on Terry to persuade us, I agree with Martin
that it is up to the subscribers of the list to decide whether Terry has
supplied us with good reasons to accept his position or not.
Best,
Luke
Friedman, Ken. 2013. “Logic, Rigor, and Bias” PhD-Design List, JISCMAIL.
Tuesday, December 26, 2013.
Love, Terence. 2013a. “counting; was: Second Request -- PhD Theses in
Design.” PhD-Design List, JISCMAIL. Tuesday, December 21, 2013.
Love, Terence. 2013b. “Re: Usefulness of design fields now and in the
future.” PhD-Design List, JISCMAIL. Monday, December 23, 2013.
Love, Terence. 2013c. “Re: ‘Usefulness’ of design fields now and in the
future.” PhD-Design List, JISCMAIL. Tuesday, December 24, 2013.
--
Luke Feast | Lecturer | Early Career Development Fellow | PhD Candidate |
Faculty of Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
| [log in to unmask] | Ph: +61 3 9214 6165 |
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/design/
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