Hi Jeffery,
How do you see that maxims and imperatives relate to the designing of a
passenger car gearbox?
Best wishes,
Terry
-----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 jeffrey
chan
Sent: Monday, 14 November 2011 11:54 AM
To: Dr Terence Love
Subject: Re: Philosophy and Design Thinking
Hi Terry,
Thank you for your input to this set of distinctions. Do you mean
quantitative performance? Do you also have an example to demonstrate this
point?
I have a different set of drivers for the differential application of this
set of distinctions. I suggest that maxims and imperatives and rules are all
mental and/or organizational devices to reduce uncertainty for the agent
and/or organization respectively. For this reason, the criteria for deciding
whether one relies more on maxims than imperatives, or vice versa, will rest
on the nature of this uncertainty on one hand, and on the other hand, the
nature of this agent/organization/design arena.
I suppose maxims feature strongly in a design arena where the design
practitioner/practice is unclear about its own ethics. In situations where
there are uncertainty or ambiguity, designers in this arena fall back on
maxims: 'form follows function'; 'when in doubt, strive for the golden
mean!'. In contrast, imperatives feature strongly in design arenas where
certain parameters can be universalized, and where violations to these
universalizable parameters tend to result in undesirable consequences (e.g.,
Jonas: do not compromise the survival of the future generations). So I agree
that imperatives are especially prominent in cases where legality and likely
undesirable consequences feature strongly, while for day to day practice at
least in the design of the built environment in the most non-technical
sense, (the critical use of) maxims do just fine. In contradistinction to
these two, rules feature most strongly in contractual settings, where
parties agree to rule-following in order to reduce uncertainties on both
sides.
The more interesting scenario is of course when the design arena is dynamic,
and there is both a tension between maxim and imperatives, and many times,
with contractual rules and imperatives.
Best,
Jeff
-Quote-
> These apply strongly in some areas of design and are almost non-existent
in
> others.
> I suggest the driver is whether the design output is tested as to whether
it
> fulfils its intent - described in quantitative terms.
> Designers seem to adhere strongly to maxims and imperatives in those
areas
> of design in which the designer/design company is legally responsible for
> the design fulfilling its purpose, when actualised and tested against
> quantitative criteria. This is much less common in design fields where
> designers have arranged that they are not responsible for designs
fulfilling
> their purpose defined in quantitative terms when actualised and tested.
-End Quote-
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