Dear Ken, Heidi, Jinan and all,
It is one thing to claim that human knowing and actions are mediated by language, artifacts, culture, the colour of someone's socks or whatever. Everyone's experience can indicate that.
It is, however, a very different thing to claim that human knowing and actions can ONLY exist by being mediated by such things.
It is true many humans can subjectively only perceive their knowing and doing and agency via their thoughts. This means that for those humans like this of course their knowing, doing and deciding will appear to them to be only and wholly dependent on thought, language, culture, social interaction and the like.
Other humans can however observe how knowing, doing and agency are fundamentally independent of thought, language, artifacts, culture and related factors. From this perspective it is also simultaneously possible to force knowing, doing and agency to be wholly dependent on thought, language, artifacts, culture and related factors as many people do.
This leaves a conundrum in design theory terms, particularly in terms of understanding creativity and judgement - and to some extent explains Eduardo's position.
A challenge is to learn within oneself how to observe better to see how knowing, doing and agency are fundamentally independent of thought, language, artifacts, culture and related factors.
Best wishes,
Terence
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Dr Terence Love
Love Design and Research
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www.love.com.au
+61 (0)4 3497 5848
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken Friedman
Sent: Tuesday, 25 July 2017 10:29 PM
To: PhD-Design <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: High-falutin' blather?
Dear All,
Two things caught my eye in Heidi Overhill’s recent post.
Heidi Overhill wrote,
—snip—
I think there is a difference between risking dumb explorations and making dumb grandiose pronouncements. The starting point for this discussion made perfect sense, because it was tightly situated: not only language mediates knowledge and knowing, but as well all other human artifacts do
It stood on a real place, speaking from experience, and perhaps that might be the central point of my interjection here. I, personally, would like to hear less high-falutin' blather on this list, and more about what you-all really know, and/or are working on — not just what you happen to be distracted by.
—snip—
Now, as it happens, I did indeed write that human artifacts mediate knowledge and knowing as well as making the same claim about language. Both do. Heidi’s rather impatient post neglected what I wrote.
Then she went on to take a whack at me over what she labels high-falutin’ blather and more about what we really know.
If Heidi had bothered to read what I wrote, it would be obvious that I do know something on these issues, not least because I have worked with them for several decades. Before I was a professor of design, I was a professor of leadership and strategic design in the department of knowledge management at a business school, and I worked often with folks in information science. I wrote carefully enough for anyone to see that this was more than a momentary distraction.
The other day, I was feeling enthusiastic about the list. As Don Norman noted, there was less personal attack and more give and take. I felt quite put out after last year’s round of accusations against anyone who might be old, white, male, or a full professor. All of these conditions affect me. But no one has yet accused me of high-falutin’ blather or writing about issues to which I have not given serious reflection.
For me, that is a bridge too far.
To leave room for other voices, I have been careful about deciding when to post and which threads to enter. To contribute to a better list culture, I have been extremely careful to ensure that my language is warm and respectful. If I cannot post on a topic that is one of my subject fields, the time has come for me to give the list a break.
While I may occasionally post relevant bulletins, I have decided to take a sabbatical from active participation in conversations on the list. High-falutin’ blather and all.
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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