Hi Susan,
It's possible to address these issues without using agency (for research,
design , ANT, AT and
In fact, agency seems to be a bit of a distraction.
It's a secondary, consequent / inferred, factor - behaviours and outcomes
happen and we infer agency. Agency is a concept that is problematic to
define - for example, which behaviours of a human are the result of agency
and which not. The attribution of agency (or not) depends on
epistemological and ontological assumptions - which theory frameworks or
religions one aspires to. Worse, the subsequent assumptions about agency
are then used to define and validate those epistemological and ontological
assumptions : a tautology.
Easiest and cleanest to leave agency out of the picture and use other ways
of describing why phenomena happen.
Best wishes,
Terence
---
Dr Terence Love
Director,
Love Services Pty Ltd
PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks
Western Australia 6030
Tel: +61 (0)4 3497 5848
Fax:+61 (0)8 9305 7629
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-----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 Susan
Stewart
Sent: Wednesday, 15 August 2012 9:32 AM
To: Dr Terence Love
Subject: Re: Activity Theory and ANT and computers are capable of design?
Dear friends,
Perhaps the difference between agency and intention is being blurred in what
has been said about the insights that ANT can bring to thinking about
design.
Post-humanist approaches to thinking about agency challenge the assumption
that human agency is independent of non-human agencies. The approach to
understanding action and change that is forwarded within ANT is one that
treats human and non-human actors as symmetrical (ie equally significant).
Non-human actors not only have agency, but also act on us. Our intentions
(among other things) are shaped by the agency of non-humans.
Tony Fry's conception of 'ontological design' similarly recognises the
agency of non-human (and, specifically, designed) things. He emphasises that
designed things have an agency in excess of the agency we intend them to
have. The unforseen ways in which the designed things that we bring into the
world re-shape that world, need to be recognised as being at least as
significant (probably more significant) than the foreseen and intended ways
in which they re-shape the world.
Fry and Latour belong to slightly different intellectual traditions, but
both are heirs to the critique of the Cartesian distinction between subject
and object. This critique, which is central to Heidegger's work, underpins
the diverse conversations of continental philosophy during the second half
of the 20th century.
Personally, I find these insights to be of enormous importance in relation
to thinking about design.
Best regards, Susan
Susan Stewart B.Arch, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Design
School of Design, Faculty of DAB
University of Technology Sydney
________________________________________
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of jeremy hunsinger
[[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 10:15 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Activity Theory and ANT and computers are capable of design?
Let's remember Latour's insight here that the worst thing about ANT is its
name because it is not about actors, networks, or theory.... you can google
the direct quote. but it certainly it isn't a theory, it is a
methodological perspective. it certainly isn't a design theory either. It
is purely a perspective about the requirements for investigating a complex
world.
>
>
jeremy hunsinger
Communication Studies
Wilfrid Laurier University
Center for Digital Discourse and Culture Virginia Tech
www.tmttlt.com
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