Abstract
Based on the argument that the complex environmental crisis is essentially an epistemological and ethical crisis, the intention in this chapter is double: first, to synthesise a new epistemology of design—one that we call an ecology of design by attending to the problem of how are we to understand the systemic relationship between individuals and their environment and comprehend the praxis of design as an integral part of it. And second, to synthesise the essential element for design to become ecological, which it is argued that only occurs when its praxis is mainly commanded by the emotion and ecology of love. Love is described as the biological and ecological foundation of what makes us human beings and therefore as the main human disposition from which a truly ecological ethics and ecological consciousness in design praxis may emerge. First, the chapter examines how design is part of an ecology of living which is epistemologically constructed as a reaction to modern rationale. Then, based on Maturana’s notion of human existence in conversation, the chapter suggests that design is a human form of conversing and synthesises four implications that are constitutive of this condition. After dealing with an epistemological dimension of design as conversation, the chapter synthesises the notion of an ecology of love. Based on the exploration of several philosophical and scientific accounts, the article examines some essential aspects of an ecology of love that informs an ethical and collaborative form of designing.
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Notes
- 1.
“technology”. Oxford Dictionaries. April 2010. Oxford University Press. http://english.oxforddictionaries.com (accessed March 14, 2011).
- 2.
Maturana argues that, because emotions are internal body dispositions, that is, they are dynamic body changes that belong to a domain different from the domain of the observer, we cannot see them directly. However, considering that the observer has access to the behavioural domain of a living being, what the observer connotes when he distinguishes emotions, ‘is a domain of relational behaviours’. In other words, when we talk about emotions, we always refer to some domain of behaviours (such as, seeing, hearing, moving, thinking, reflecting, etc.) that an animal or person may do, and we speak in terms of the ‘kinds of doings that it may generate’. So, as Maturana explains, ‘the different emotions or moods can be fully characterized in terms of the kinds of relational behaviours that they entail as a domain of actions’.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Fondecyt Iniciación Project N° 11130519; by Project CONICYT/FONDAP N°15110020 (CEDEUS); and by Project CONICYT/FONDAP N° 15110006 (CIIR).
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Salazar, G., Baxter, S. (2018). Ecological Design as an Ecology of Love: Epistemological and Ethical Implications. In: Vermaas, P., Vial, S. (eds) Advancements in the Philosophy of Design. Design Research Foundations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73302-9_21
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