Dear Dick,
One added thought:
The fact that Simon's definition is common place -- common to all
design -- gives it high-level, comprehensive covering power. This is
a virtue.
It never seemed to me that Simon's definition sprang from a void. It
sprang from his experience of design and his interest in
understanding design. Simon's great skill was to bring a strong
conceptual ability to bear on design process, abstracting from
hundreds of instances that which is common to all design.
Ken
Dick Buchanan wrote:
--snip--
We need a rich conceptual framework for appreciating the rise of
design. Simon provides an interesting perspective, but it did not
spring from a void. In fact, while his definition continues to be
cited, the reason is that it is a commonplace definition--commonplace
in the sense of employing a set of "places" that are common to a
variety of approaches.
--snip--
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