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PHD-DESIGN  November 2012

PHD-DESIGN November 2012

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Subject:

Re: Meta-Language and Terminology

From:

Keith Russell <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:14:15 +1100

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text/plain

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Dear Stefanie,

You illustrate a seemingly useful account of the problems that arise
when critical strategies are taken out of context. (See below)

That is, the challenge of "social construction" to any and all theories
is useful in some contexts and damaging in others.

The "social construct" approach, at its best, is a gentle warning to
all of us that all theories are ways of showing and account for things
that we would not otherwise be aware of and able to use.

If I show you my theorem (theory) about the square on the hypotenuse
etc. this might be very useful to you in constructing a well-built
house. It might also lead you to the deluded view that all knowledge
(math) is of a similar kind to the geometric kind of knowledge. (Lots of
further interesting things can come out of a study of Plato's uses of
such theory.)

If I am able to locate Darwin's theories in a social and hence
historical context of ideas then I am able to gain additional insights
into the theories and their origins and of their possible uses and of
their possible issues.

That is, the social construction approach allows me to get past the
aura of theories to the theories themselves. It doesn't mean that I
conclude that there is no longer any real validity to the theories
because they were made up by Darwin. The only naive realists who get
woken up from their philosophical sleep in which they think there is no
reality problem are first year philosophy students; the rest of us
always knew there were issues with theory and reality and theories about
reality and the reality of theory and the reality of reality and why my
mum won prizes for her sponge cakes and yet she was an unhappy person.

Steve McQueen use to draw his cow boy guns on other people on movie
sets. Apparently he was the fastest gun in town. When he did this he
would say: "I just shot your aura." This technique seemed to work for
Steve but it didn't have much impact on others.

cheers

keith

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

**The equalizing of all kinds of knowledge in the way proposed by
these
sociologists runs the real risk of leading to the sugggestion that all
forms of science are merely social constructions. Newtons and darwins
theories of the world are put on a par with conversation at the bar or
dinner party chatter. According to this view, there is no reality at
all
independent of power and language. It is all social construction. Such
arguments are a kind of sociological imperialism, analogous to the
scientific imperialism they attack. Both such views rapidly depart
from
common sense and an alternative approach to understanding
society-nature
relations must be found** -Dickens, P 2004, *Society and Nature,* 1st
edn,
Polity, p. 19


and one last quote in context of design:

*"designers are endlessly confronted with design problems that emerge
from
ideas situated on this continnuum from the objective to the
subjective**  Crouch
C, 2012,* **Doing Research in Design**,* 1 edn, Berg Publishers, p. 45


...ill scuttle back beneath the books


*Stefanie Di Russo*

PhD Student
Faculty of Design
Swinburne University
*twitter:* @stefdirusso <https://twitter.com/#!/stefdirusso>
*linkedin: public
*profile<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stefanie-di-russo/35/16/a84>


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