Concerning the Epistemology of Design : The Role of the Eco-Cognitive Model of Abduction in Pragmatism

Altres ajuts: the PRIN 2017 Research 20173YP4N3-MIUR, Ministry of University and Research, Rome, ItalyDesign has usually been linked to art and applied in scenarios related to everyday life. Even when design has, on occasion, made its way into the world of academia, it has always been closely linked to art and scenarios related everyday life. At last, however, the idea of design has reached the field of epistemology: an area within the very heart of philosophy that has always focused, in theory, on the foundations of knowledge. Consequently, design is being studied from different approaches interested in the foundation of knowledge, theoretical and practical. This is one of the reasons why abduction and pragmatism have been considered relevant from a design perspective. This paper first shows the main features of abduction and pragmatism, describes their evolution and considers their mutual implications. Second, the epistemology of design is analysed considering its most relevant characteristics. Third, the connection between abduction and, on the one hand, pragmatism and, on the other, design epistemology is addressed. Finally, the role of abductive inference in grounding a real epistemology for design theory from the naturalised cognitive perspective of abduction is outlined. The central proposition is that this approach is essential as a methodological innovation, as it allows us to analyse both the inquiry process and the design process as interdependent when dealing with practical problems of a social and cultural nature. This approach allows us to analyse how human actions determine changes in the theoretical framework from which we make our inquiry. In short, the world is an open-ended project that humans design through our daily inquiry

Abduction as a Mode of Inference in Science Education

The central argument of this article is that abduction as a “mode of inference” is a key element in the nature of scientists’ science and should consequently be introduced in school science. Abduction generally understood as generation and selection of hypotheses permits to articulate the classical scientific contexts of discovery and justification and provides educational insights into scientific methodology, this being a particularly important issue in science teaching. However, abductive reasoning has been marginally treated in the philosophy of science until relatively recently; accordingly, we deem it important to perform an “archaeology” of the concept that considers C. S. Peirce’s seminal contributions. We also choose to review contemporary treatments in order to recognise useful classifications to support more meaningful ways of teaching science and the nature of science. An elucidation of the participation of abductive inferences in knowledge construction seems necessary for us to derive conceptual input for the understanding and design of explanations in school science. Some prospective examples of “school scientific abduction” are discussed in the article through the lens of the results of our theoretical analysis.Fil: Aduriz Bravo, Agustin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Formación e Investigación en Enseñanza de las Ciencias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Sans Pinillos, Alger. Universita degli Studi di Pavia; Itali

The Abduction of the Future. Between inventive thinking and speculative design

Evolutionary history, writes Peirce, teaches us that the future influences the present: it conditions it, puts it into question, and places it in a state of planning. To be in evolution, as well as to feel part of a history, means to project oneself, to form an idea, a prefiguration, of what we could be in a future state, no matter how distant. The logical form of every design and the inventive process is abduction, in particular projective abduction, which proposes as the object of discovery an object or event that has yet to be realized. In this sense, abduction can also be defined as the semiotics of the possible. Is it possible to outline an abductive design method? My contribution aims to discuss how abduction, and with it, everything that contributes to the formation of an inventive habit, can be considered as the ineliminable step of every design process. This is the case of Speculative Design, which has had the credit of introducing the notion of possibility into design thinking

Логика и искусство открытия (Хр. Вольф и Ч. Пирс)

Логика и искусство открытия (Хр. Вольф и Ч. Пирс

Eksaptatsioon: ühe bioloogilise mõiste semiootilise kirjelduse poole

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Käesolev doktoritöö modelleerib eksaptatsiooni kui evolutsioonilist nähtust, lähtudes C.S. Peirce’i märgi- ja tuletusteooriast. Selle teostamiseks keskendub esimene osa “Enne eksaptatsiooni: eel-adapteerumine ja Chauncey Wright” mõiste tähendusele ning toob välja selle ulatusliku ajaloolise tausta. Erilist tähelepanu pööratakse C. Wrighti vanade jõudude uue kasutuse printsiibile ning tema intellektuaalsele seosele Darwiniga. Töö teine osa “Wright ja Peirce pragmatismist ja evolutsioonist” uurib Wright’i ja Peirce’i vahelisi sarnasusi ja erinevusi, pidades silmas Darwini teooria epistemoloogilist staatust, nende erinevat lähenemist Lamarck’i teooriatele ning evolutsionismi üldistamist bioloogiast teistesse valdkondadesse. Kolmas osa “Peirce’i evolutsionism: pidevuse ja ikoonilise abduktsiooni roll” käsitleb lähemalt evolutsiooni ning süvendab Peirce’i lamarkismi interpretatsiooni, rõhutades tema füsioloogilist tuletusteooria tõlgendust. Lisaks sellele näidatakse, et taju ning sarnasus on kesksed säärase raamistiku toimimiseks. Neljas osa (“Abduktsioon ja eksaptatsioon”) kasutab mitmeid mõisteid—asendatatvus, viga, kategooriate taju—,et teostada modelleerimist: eksaptatiivsed nähtused võivad järgida tajuliselt tingitud käitumismuutusi, põhinedes sarnasustel maailma üksuste vahel, mida tõlgendatakse ikooniliselt. Viies osa (“Tehnoloogilise arengu ikooniline ja eksaptatiivne loogika”) rakendab eeltoodut tehnoloogilise arengu valdkonnale ja tõestab, et kooptsioon on peamine mehhanism, millel baseeruvad nii abduktsioon kui eksaptatsioon. Kuues osa (“Vereimemise päritolu: evolutsioonilise abduktsiooni juhtum?”) on juhtumianalüüs ning siin pakutakse välja hüpotees, et hematofaagia võis tegelikult välja kujuneda abduktsiooni ja eksaptatsiooni integratsiooni läbi. Seitsmes (“Lõpumärkused juhtumianalüüsi kohta”) ja kaheksas (“Üldised järeldused”) osa selgitavad vastavalt spetsiifilisemaid ning üldisemaid doktoritöö tulemusi.The present dissertation attempts a modeling of the evolutionary phenomenon of exaptation according to C. S. Peirce’s theory of signs and inference. To accomplish this, the first section (“Before exaptation: preadaptation and Chauncey Wright”) focuses on the meaning of the concept and reveals its vast historical background. Special attention is paid to C. Wright’s principle of new uses of old powers and his intellectual relationship with Darwin. The second section (“Wright and Peirce on pragmatism and evolution”) investigates then similarities and differences between Wright and Peirce, especially insofar the epistemological status of Darwin’s theory, their different approach to Lamarck’s account and the issue of evolutionism as a generalization from biology to other fields are concerned. The third section (“Peirce’s evolutionism: the role of continuity and iconic abduction”) further elaborates on evolution and deepens Peirce’s interpretation of Lamarckism by emphasizing his physiological translation of the theory of inference; besides, the role played by perception and similarity is considered central to the working of such framework. The fourth section (“Abduction and exaptation”) exploits several concepts — substitutability, mistake, categorical perception — to set up properly the modeling: exaptive phenomena can follow sensory-driven changes of behavior, based on similarities among world entities that are interpreted iconically. The fifth section (“The iconic and exaptive logic of technological development”) applies what previously achieved to the issue of technological development and corroborates the idea of cooption as the basic mechanism underlying both abduction and exaptation. The sixth section (“The origin of bloodsucking: a case of evolutionary abduction?”) is a case study and puts forward the hypothesis that hematophagy might actually have originated through a process integrating abduction and exaptation. The seventh (“Concluding remarks on the case study”) and eight sections (“General conclusions”) explain accordingly specific and general findings of the thesis

The role of abduction in production of new ideas in design

The pragmatist philosopher Peirce insisted that besides deduction and induction there is a third main form of inference, abduction, which is the only type of inference capable of producing new ideas. Also he defined abduction as a stage of the methodological process in science, where hypotheses are formed to explain anomalies. Basing on these seminal ideas, scholars have proposed modified, widened or alternative definitions of abduction and devised taxonomies of abductive inferences. Influenced by Peirce’s seminal writings and subsequent treatments on abduction in philosophy of science, design scholars have in the last 40 years endeavoured to shed light on design by means of the concept of abduction. The first treatment was provided by March in 1976. He viewed that abduction, which he called “productive reasoning”, is the key mode of reasoning in design. He also presented a three-step cyclic design process, similar to Peirce’s methodological process in science. Among the many other later treatments of design abduction, Roozenburg’s definition of explanatory and innovative abduction is noteworthy. However, an evaluation of the related literature suggests that research into abduction in design is still in an undeveloped stage. This research shows gaps in coverage, lack of depth and diverging outcomes. By focusing on the differences between science and design as well as on empirical knowledge of different phenomena comprising design, new conceptions of abduction in design are derived. Given the differences of context, abduction in design shows characteristics not yet found or identified in science. For example, abduction can occur in connection to practically all inference types in design; it is a property of an inference besides an inference itself. A number of the most important abductive inference types as they occur in design are identified and discussed in more detail.Peer reviewe

Developing a Framework for Managing Tacit Knowledge in Research using Knowledge Management Models

This research investigates whether and how selected models from Knowledge Management (KM) can be used to devise a framework for building coherent and rigorous methodologies for research in the creative and practice-led disciplines (CPD). This research has arisen from methodological problems of research in art and design in the UK concerning how, and the extent to which, non-propositional and tacit kinds of knowledge (e.g. experiential, procedural) can be included and communicated within research. The proposed research builds on previous studies by the authors into the role and relationship of different kinds of knowledge in research (Niedderer, 2007a, 2007b), and into how knowledge management (KM) and creative disciplines provide complementary insights on how knowledge can be managed and transferred (Imani, 2007). The research investigates whether and how the SECI model (Nonaka &amp; Takeuchi, 1995; Nonaka, 2000) can be used to develop a framework for managing different kinds of knowledge in research. Our research goes beyond existing approaches by offering a generic and flexible framework which researchers can use to better understand and build their own research methodologies and to integrate individual methods with regard to managing different kinds of knowledge.</p

Can We Programme Utopia? The Influence of the Digital Neoliberal Discourse on Utopian Videogames

This article has a dual purpose. The first is to establish the relationship between videogames and utopia in the neoliberal era and clarify the origins of this compromise in the theoretical dimension of game studies. The second is to examine the ways in which there has been an application of the utopian genre throughout videogame history (the style of procedural rhetoric and the subgenre of walking simulator) and the way in which the material dimension of the medium ideologically updates the classical forms of that genre, be it through activation or deactivation. The article concludes with an evaluation of the degree in which the neoliberal discourse interferes with the understanding of utopia on behalf of the medium and with its imaginary capabilities to allow for an effective change in social reality

Pluralism in Economics: Inquiries into a Daedalean Concept

The state of contemporary economics had been a subject of discussion even before the most recent global financial crisis. The one-sidedness of the discipline has frequently been lamented and calls are often made for its pluralisation. Nevertheless, there is neither a consensus over the form of pluralism that is required (whether this is a theory, method, or paradigm pluralism, for example), nor agreement among economists over the underlying diagnosis of a lack of pluralism. Even the justification for this pluralistic norm - i.e. whether it should be seen in terms of an ethics of fairness and tolerance or as the imperative of academic freedom - remains disputed and is often unclear. The present paper aims to shed some light on these ambiguities