Dear Derek,
I agree with your comments on writers, writing and higher degrees. I write poetry, I have taught creative writing, my PhD is a theory about literary affects (no mention of my poetry in there).
I am reminded that "apprentice" comes from "apprehend" which means both taking hold of and being taken hold of. In my creative and my theoretical writing there is clear evidence of my many and varied apprenticeships, some with the living, some face-to-face, some with the dead.
The humility you describe in terms of scientists I see as a humility that comes with age. Sottsass somewhere talks about when he was a young designer with an instant answer and how he works as a mature designer, with a client. I also think, that in the case of science, they are looking for absolutes (hard and soft) and so when someone else finds a solution they are all well pleased.
And yes, over time, I agree, they tend to come to the understanding that solutions to problems are found where and when they are found, by whom ever they are found. I recall a Nobel Prize winning scientists who kept trying to explain to the BBC dude that his discovery was waiting there for someone to find and he simply happened to be the timely one who first found it.
Making a disgusting lounge out of aluminum is not only aggressive and arrogant, but it is surely lacking in humility. That is, much of the prize winning aspect of design is about designers and not about design except as the perversity of personality.
cheers
keith
>>> Derek Miller <[log in to unmask]> 03/30/11 10:00 PM >>>
Dear Keith,
That is a very rich description of why both artists and designers may be fearful of the transformation of their practices into theory, and hence "discipline" as the academy would have it. Thanks for that.
Another modern example, by the way, is fiction writing. As an author myself, I'm of the view that one can indeed apprentice to a writer and one can indeed become better at the craft.
I don't think a Ph.D. should be offered in creative writing, whereas it should be offered in literary theory, literary history, and literary criticism (perhaps others as well). Meanwhile, the Master of Fine Arts (as we have it in the U.S. ) is a superb degree for writers if working with, and under, good writers.
My observation has been less eloquent that yours. It's more Austin Powers than Blake, namely, "They'll steal my mojo!"
The funny thing about scientists is that they don't fear this. Yes, someone else might "get there" first, or worse, a competing theory may win out, and all that bother, but there isn't a sense of being redundant as soon as one becomes proficient. In fact, I'm argue that serious scientists, upon achieving a certain level of expertise, realize how rare indeed they are in the world, and how much value they can offer.
I hope designers get there too. I don't think all design practice should be elevated to theory, just as I'm not convinced that the art of writing can be taught, whereas the craft indeed can be (I'm thinking of John Gardner here, who was divine at teaching this). But just as one can practice writing or study it as literature, I see a future when design too may need to grow comfortable with its duality, just as the productiion of literature is not, and need not be informed by, the theory of it. And so too can great historians and theorists exist on writing without even trying their hand at the craft.
d.
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Dr. Derek B. Miller
Director
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