Hello all
Only a few remarks:
I am not, at all, convinced of that passage ‘from philosophy to science’
through seeking validation. Only if we are utilizing ‘science’ as a broad
concept, but even that is problematic. In its strict sense, that imposes a
major difficulty, which is: the criterion that must, in fact, support the supposed
validating proof of such and such theory in a validation proof of that theory.
From this perspective a ‘scientific theory’ is, as such, a self-referring
theory, and therefore subjected to contradiction and skepticism (Note:
Skepticism didn’t die in ancient Greece).
Another thing is Radical Constructivism, which is a full-blown term that comprehends
almost everything and nothing. This term is a caricature of different views about
cognition, and when one utilizes it, utilizes in an already ideological frame
of mind.
Best regards
Luís M Inácio
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 10:07 AM
From:
"Derek B. Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
To:
undisclosed-recipients
There is a difference between theory and philosophy, as there is a
difference between validity and soundness. If one is interested in whether a
subjective experience is generalizable, it becomes a research question, which
invites a research design appropriate to the form of claim it aspires to make.
The movement from philosophy to science is the move that seeks validation, and
aims to build theory on the basis of validity. Philosophy itself does not
require this because it states its premises and builds sound arguments
(hopefully) from these, or else reflects on premises to create sound arguments
about them (from, of course, other premises).
The problem with radical constructionism is that it is self-contradictory. If
meaning cannot be determined or successfully imparted, one wonders why they
these people keep talking. It would seem that the least they could do — for the
sake of integrity — is shut up.
Likewise, the claim that "nothing is knowable" is also
self-contradictory because it holds itself as a known and knowable truth. This
is what killed Skepticism in ancient Greece.
The constructivist turn itself — one I do work in — recognizes a plurality of
social systems of meaning, and those who are indeed scientists (I am one) seek
to determine those meanings empirically.
For those interested in the empirical understanding of constructed forms in
communication, I suggest the work of Gerry Philipsen and Donal Carbaugh who
have helped build the field of ethnography of communication.
If design wants to move towards theory from philosophy, it is going to need to
address the standards of scientific inquiry into social phenomena.
_________________
Derek B. Miller, Ph.D.
Director
The Policy Lab
321 Columbus Ave, 7th floor
Boston, MA 02116
United States
Phone: +1-617-440-4409
Web: Thepolicylab.org
Twitter: @policylabtweets
On Feb 7, 2011, at 7:42 AM, CHUA Soo Meng Jude (PLS) wrote:
> I'm sympathetic to Terence's concerns about subjectivity, and this reminds
me of the following. One of the things I've been struggling with when detailing
what design is or what constitutes a design theory or science of design is the
scope of what is to be studied and detailed under "design" or
"design thinking" etc. My colleagues (also in philosophy) complain
that design seems to be anything practical and it's so broad if one attempts a
essentialist study of what constitutes a common denominator of design you
either get too much in it or else so little its not illuminating. My colleagues
in sociology (or history) basically argue that everything is more or less
constructed so there's no objective essence of anything and you need to study
something in context, so they recommend studying what this or that particular
designer says, here, then, etc. There are parallels here; in education for the
longest time the philosophers (Hirst et al) at IoE were interested in detailing
the essence of this and that, and their colleagues in sociology and history
(McCullogh and Whittey, etc) thought this was totally wrong headed. In
jurisprudence there was something similar with people like Austin trying to
define "law" as imperatives and Hart arguing that sociologically that
was not how the Englishman grasped the law, but rather these were, rules. But
John Finnis suggested that there was a self conscious attempt even in Hart's
case to avoid merely describing in context what someone thinks the law is but
that Hart self-consciously choose some rather than other view points as
representative of a viewpoint about the "law". Retrieving
Aquinas and Aristotle, he called this the quest for the central case, or the focal
meaning, and here even if law can mean many things, the theorist would only
choose a select type of viewpoint and it's understanding of the law for study.
Herbert Simon had that approach it seemed to me: he wanted to detail the
epistemology not of any designer (syn. "professional") but only of
those whose reasoning was sound. Nigel Cross I noticed somewhat
self-consciously does the same: he is interested mostly in the work or thinking
of "good designers", and not anyone who comes along and who could
still be loosely called a designer. I think this is a sensible way to go.
There's a kind of selectivity, a kind of recognition that, while there are many
designers and many design epistemologies, design theory should focus on the
central instances, and not the peripheral types (which whilst peripheral still
are design-ings, just as for instance in the case of jurisprudence, legal
positivists would say, an evil law is still a law, but a central case theorist
would agree but point out, that this law whilst law was law only in the
peripheral sense.) The challenge in the development of a central case, however,
is the justification of the criteria for selecting what should be focal and
what is peripheral; Finnis argues that we should always adopt the viewpoint of
the person whose reasoning is sound (including practical, moral reasoning). But
this then leads to another problem; is there such a viewpoint that is
objective, defensible, etc? This viewpoint, as Finnis argues, is that viewpoint
of the practically reasonable person, i.e., to be worked out by the ethicist.
Here I find Simon's account of practical reason limiting, given his earlier
positivism and later affirmation of the naturalistic fallacy, and his general
skepticism of the existence of normative precepts with an account of terminal
values. Cross I find limiting in another way since he prefers research on
design by designer-researchers but clearly this exclusivism blinds us to
important work on axiologies done by non-designers, and indeed undermines his
attempt to discern the thinking of "good" designers, and who are good
designers should not, I feel, be left to some arbitrary, conventional or
preferential judgment.
>
> Ideas in need of more work
> Jude
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Terence Love
> Sent: Friday, 4 February, 2011 2:56 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: generalizability of research through/by design
>
> Hi Luke
>
>
> Any subjective-based approach to making design theory,
whether
> continentally high flying such as Dreyfus, Heidegger, Sartre or Husserl,
or
> lowflying as in protocol analysis self reporting and opinion-sampling
> empirical surveys depends on their being some justifiably accurate
> connection between what people report about 'inside of themselves' and
what
> is observably going on as seen by others in ways that can be subjected to
> some kind of empirical checking.
>
> It's pretty effortless to show that subjectivist reality isn't a great
basis
> for deriving theory from. We don't know what we think or feel. We lie
about
> it to ourselves. We are subject to widespread illusions and delusions
moment
> by moment as well as over the longer term. All these make subjective
'truth'
> pretty undependable as a basis for making theory about being, nothing ness
-
> or design.
>
> This puts a pretty big challenge to continental philosophy to get round -
> and I've not yet come across a sincere attempt to prove empirical validity
> of continental philosophers' speculations by members of that
group who
> have continued to remain in that tradition.
>
> Or can you think of a situation otherwise?
>
> Best wishes,
> Terry
>
> National Institute of Education (Singapore) http://www.nie.edu.sg
>
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