Hi David,
The activity to 'do' is NOT restricted to people either in its etymology, technical definition or common use.
Similarly to 'decide' is NOT restricted to people either in its etymology, technical definition or common use unless one is from that subset of people that assumes that it is.
Ditto for to 'act' or undertake an 'activity' or 'action'
Ditto for to make a 'plan'
Ditto for to create a 'design'
All apply as much to the acts of non-human objects as they do to humans.
I'm not finding any reference sources where any of the above are defined as purely referring to human actions.
If you have such a reference , please tell me.
Best wishes,
Terence
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From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of David Sless
Sent: Sunday, 5 July 2020 2:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The uselessness of 'agency' in design theory
Hi. All,
A small distinction might be useful.
I, like all of you make decisions, take actions, plan etc etc. This is what people do. Only people do these things and we can talk between us about these things without getting confused.
Sometimes we observe other organisms—my dog for example—doing things. When I make such a claim I am creating and using a metaphor. The same with machines, however complex. Machines don’t do things simply because they are not people, But there is nothing preventing us from applying metaphors to make sense of machines to say that they act AS IF they were people in some way doing things.
Our ubiquitous use of metaphors can be illuminating, even inspiring. It can also be profoundly misleading. Abstract nouns are often the carriers of such confusion (I am, of course using a metaphor. Abstract nouns don’t carry anything.)
We were recently on this list talking about “need”. Without getting into any confusion I can tell you that I need food to survive. But something goes terribly wrong when a psychologist tells me that I have 'A FOOD NEED’. To prove the truth of this statement scientifically, the psychologist must find the locus of this NEED and develop a theory about the nature of this need and its mode of action, alongside all the other NEEDS I have. In one sentence we have moved from a simple statement to the creation of a mental object. Need is being treated AS IF it were an object. This AS IF is a wonderful way for us to create new ways of looking at things. But we get into lots of trouble when we insist that these metaphorical usages are themselves real.
Please try to use metaphors for what they are: fictions we create.
David
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