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A short reply to Bruce Moon: Why this aggression when confronted with seemingly "structuralist" or "positivist" positions? At the end of the 20th century we should have realized that (even scientific) theories do not describe or provide a model of some reality "out there" but rather are observations of observations. They are perspectivist, of course, but not necessarily "ideologic" (as you argue). And we should be able to deal with them in a pluralist attitude. And I believe that Ken Friedman, in his definition of theory, is well aware of this. Especially in design it does not make sense to exclude certain important approaches / contributions just because of some personal (ideological?) preferences. Remarks as yours concerning Herbert Simon are turn-offs indeed. Maybe you should reflect your own blind spots? What is so bad with our positivist heritage? One could describe your comment (in a positivistic manner) as a very simple stimulus - response pattern. Sorry! Of course there can be theory about social phenomena as design. But I donīt see the alternative of either an (impossible) general theory of how the world IS or theories of how the world SHOULD BE. I still want to hold up the idea of (competing) theories about how something IS OBSERVED. Which leads to models of an (observed) reality. What you mention is the problem of self-referentiality which is inherent in any scientific practice but could mostly be neglected. It cannot be neglected in disciplines as linguistics or psychoanalysis or design. The most awkward characteristic of the subjects mentioned is that they examine themselves in their own terms. And design theory is design. It is a model created in communicative feedback practice (as this conversation). This reflexive character of the project should be inherent to a theory of design. Which leads to highly "positivist" approaches again as, e.g. Maturanaīs theory of autopoiesis which is one of the foundations of 2nd order cybernetics and the epistemological concept of radical constructivism... Wolfgang Jonas %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%