Philosophy and Design

From the reviews: Philosophy and Design: From Engineering to Architecture is a significant contribution to the expanding field of design studies. It brings questions of design into philosophy and thereby brings diverse philosophical perspectives to bear on conceptual, methodological, epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues of design. It is also the first collection of philosophical papers to bridge the divide between critical reflections on design in engineering and in architecture. After the publication of this well edited collection, it will be difficult for philosophy to ignore design as a theme as worthy of attention as such phenomena as scientific theory, aesthetic creativity, or political law. Indeed, as a phenomenon design may well span theory, creativity, and law in ways that can contribute to a deeper understanding of each and to their mutual relations. In addition, this collection is to be commended for the interdisciplinary character of many of its contributions and the multinational perspectives provided by its diverse contributors from Europe, North America, and Japan. - Carl Mitcham is Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies at the Colorado School of Mines. He also serves on the adjunct faculty of the European Graduate School and the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His "Thinking through Technology: The Path between Engineering and Philosophy" (1994) is a widely respected contribution; more recently he served as editor-in-chief of the 4-volume "Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics" (2005). "It offers a rich palette of essays and those who will read it, will get a good impression of the sort of themes and issues that are addressed now in this specific branch of philosophy. ... Although this book was written by philosophers ... it is well accessible to non-philosophers. ... I warmly recommend the book to technology educators, in particular those that work in research or teacher education and can use it to enrich teacher education programs with insights from the philosophy of technology." (Marc de Vries, International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Vol. 19, 2009)

• Engineering Design.- Design in Engineering and Architecture: Towards an Integrated Philosophical Understanding.- Design, Use, and the Physical and Intentional Aspects of Technical Artifacts.- Designing is the Construction of Use Plans.- The Designer Fallacy and Technological Imagination.- Technological Design as an Evolutionary Process.- Deciding on Ethical Issues in Engineering Design.- Morality in Design: Design Ethics and the Morality of Technological Artifacts.- Thinking about Design: Critical Theory of Technology and the Design Process.- Design Culture and Acceptable Risk.- Alienability, Rivalry, and Exclusion Cost: Three Institutional Factors for Design.- Emerging Engineering Design.- Friends by Design: A Design Philosophy for Personal Robotics Technology.- Beyond Engineering: Software Design as Bridge over the Culture/Technology Dichotomy.- Technology Naturalized: A Challenge to Design for the Human Scale.- Re-Designing Humankind: The Rise of Cyborgs, a Desirable Goal?.- Designing People: A Post-Human Future?.- Redesigning Man?.- Design: Structure, Process, and Function: A Systems Methodology Perspective.- Co-Designing Social Systems by Designing Technical Artifacts: A Conceptual Approach.- Beyond Inevitability: Emphasizing the Role of Intention and Ethical Responsibility in Engineering Design.- Design and Responsibility: The Interdependence of Natural, Artifactual, and Human Systems.- Architectural Design.- Form and Process in the Transformation of the Architect's Role in Society.- Expert Culture, Representation, and Public Choice : Architectural Renderings as the Editing of Reality.- Diverse Designing: Sorting Out Function and Intention in Artifacts.- Design Criteria in Architecture.- Cities, Aesthetics, and Human Community: Some Thoughts on the Limits of Design.- Nature, Aesthetic Values, and Urban Design: Building the Natural City.