Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:40:45.594Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

French Biological Philosophy of Technology as a Candidate Perspective Furthering Design Methodology

Part of: Design Methods and Tools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2019

Sander Mulder

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A first exploration is conducted to what the French biological philosophy of technology perspective has to offer to the field of design methodology. If this French perspective is combined with contemporary speculative pragmatism a generative design methodology emerges offering novelty in what is sensed as important in a design situation. Within this perspective, drawing upon the late French philosopher Gilbert Simondon, technical objects have their own mode of existence and their own trajectory of development apart from human intention.

Designers working with such a generative design methodology follow the constitutive value of openness and attune to the regulative value of techno-aesthetic judgments. By way of a 'vignette+', a paradigmatic example from a real case, a more encompassing argument is made towards design situations where a sophisticated machine is 'inserted' into a domestic setting.

The example taken is the use of an artificial kidney machine in a domestic setting and the development of a novel machine with a design team. Four aspects were sensed as important in the unfolding design situation and directions for further research are discussed.

Keywords

Design methodologyDesign methodsSimondonTechnologyTechno-aesthetics
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , July 2019 , pp. 1493 - 1502
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

References

Bardin, A. (2015), Epistemology and Political Philosophy in Gilbert Simondon. Individuation, Technics, Social Systems., Springer, Netherlands.Google Scholar
Barthélémy, J.-H. (2012), “Fifty key terms in the work of Gilbert Simondon”, in De Boever, A., Murray, A., Roffe, J. and Woodward, A., eds., Gilbert Simondon: Being and Technology Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Chabot, P. (2013), Philosophy of Simondon: between technology and individuation, Bloomsbury, London [u.a.].Google Scholar
Clarizio, E. (2016), “The contribution of French biological philosophy of technology to the debate on technological mediation”, in Theorizing Technological Mediation Symposium, University of Twente, November 17th, 2016.Google Scholar
Cross, N. (1984), Developments in Design Methodology, Wiley, Chester.Google Scholar
De Vries, M.J. (2008), “Gilbert Simondon and the dual nature of technical artifacts”, Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, Vol. 12 No. 1.Google Scholar
De Vries, M.J., Feenberg, A., De Boever, A. and Hoel, A. (2014), “Book Symposium on The Philosophy of Simondon: Between Technology and Individuation”, Philosophy & Technology, pp. 1–26, available: http://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-013-0144-5.Google Scholar
Dorst, K. (1997), “Describing design: a comparison of paradigms”, thesis (PhD), Delft University of Technology.Google Scholar
Duhem, L. (2010), “Introduction à la techno-esthétique (version longue)”, Archée, Vol. 71.Google Scholar
Duhem, L. (2012), “Thinking aesthetic reality (with Simondon)”, SubStance, Vol. 41, pp. 16–31.Google Scholar
Guchet, X. (2018), Toward an Object-Oriented Philosophy of Technology in Loeve, S., Guchet, X. and Bensaude-Vincent, B., eds., French Philosophy of Technology, 1st ed., Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland. pp. 237–256.Google Scholar
Guchet, X. and Bensaude-Vincent, B. (2008), Nanomachine: Technological Concept or Metaphor? in Jotterand, F., ed., Emerging Conceptual, Ethical and Policy Issues in Bionanotechnology Springer Science & Business Media, p. 264.Google Scholar
Loeve, S. (2018), Design and Aesthetics in Nanotechnology in Loeve, S., Guchet, X. and Bensaude-Vincent, B., eds., French Philosophy of Technology, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland. pp. 361–384.Google Scholar
Mills, S. (2014), “Gilbert Simondon: Causality, ontogenesis & technology”, thesis (PhD), University of the West of England.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, A. (2001), “An ethics of the pre-individual”, thesis (PhD), University of Warwick.Google Scholar
Schick, J.F.M. (2017), “Theaters of Individuation. Gilbert Simondon and the Interrelations of Ethics, Techniques, and Ontology”, Journal of Badiou Studies, Vol. 5.Google Scholar
Simondon, G. (1958), Du mode d'existence des objets techniques, Aubier.Google Scholar
Simondon, G. (1992), The Genesis of the Individual in Crary, J. and Kwinter, S., eds., Incorporations (Zone 6) Zone Books.Google Scholar
Simondon, G. (2017), On The Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, 1st ed., translated by Malaspina, C. and Rogrove, J., Univocal Publishing, Minneapolis.Google Scholar