6th May 2008 Lecture

Philosophy of the artificial

Philosophy
Ancient – i.e. Greek
6th Century
Catholic - 1100AD-1400
Modern – 17th Century

Modern philosophy in western tradition
Theology / religion / science
Epistemology –logic, truth, knowledge.
Ontology –existence, being.
Ethics –how we relate to others.
Aesthetics –beauty, art.
Mind/ psychology
Natural –physics, chemistry, biology.

When you design you bring a certain world view with you.

What is design knowledge?
Design as a discipline is very new, only about 40 years old. It integrates knowledge from many different areas, art, science etc.

Not a lot of thinking about what is design knowledge.

“The enlightenment”
Separation between science, religion and philosophy. People begin to think for themselves.

Martin Jay. Downcast Eyes. 1993.
Light=truth Dark=confusion/wrong.

Validity associated with seeing.

Rene Descartes 1596-1650
“I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am.”

Problem of perception. We can’t trust what is out of our eyes. The first step in existence is thought. The mind comes before the body/world.
Optics. “Discourse on method”. Descartes influenced by the telescope, also by camera obscura. Metaphor for the mind. Image you see with your intellect. Most truthful thing is clear and distinct.

2 types of seeing.
Speculation. Eye of the mind, internal representation. Reason/logic. “It is the mind that sees, not the body”
Observation. Mental sight. Disembodied eye.

Influenced by Alberti, perspective, seeing the world through a frame. You are a spectator to the world.

Regime of light in baroque architecture viewed from a fixed point. Drama, observation. Light as an important part of design. Louis Le Vau the “light King”
17th Century, the perfection of the mirror.

Descartes believed that images can be represented in language.

McCahon makes a connection between light, language and the land. 1970s.

Doubt and presence are always together.

Magritte. Connection between language and reality becomes broken.
We assume that words and images are connected.
Design begins with darkness and love. The blind proceed by hand or with an extension of themselves (stick).

Narcissus. Blind look. Falling in love with ones own reflection.
A self portrait is a blind painting. Picture looking at painter looking at picture looking at painter…

Phenomenology
Importance of tools/equipment.
Tool becomes invisible when it is in use. They withdraw from our attention, but influence how we relate to the world around us.

Frame around a painting- a cut that doesn’t bleed.
Design is the extra thing around a product that we don’t see.

Ralph Hotere, black window, 1981.