Mitigating climate change necessitates shifting citizens' behaviour towards more sustainable practices. Integrating psychological insights into public communication can significantly influence this behavioural change, while also potentially increasing perceptions of manipulation. In the current era of high distrust in governments, understanding the characteristics of manipulation is crucial to ascertain whether government communication is perceived as manipulative. Given the lack of established measurements to identify and gauge perceived manipulation, this thesis takes an exploratory step in searching for the determinants of perceived manipulation (...) in Dutch public communication using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Drawing on the philosophical, psychological, and psychiatric literature on manipulation, this study identifies potential determinants and biases that influence perceived manipulation. The four potential key determinants of manipulation include bypassing rationality, covertness, trickery, and indifference. Potential biases such as source scepticism, individualism versus collectivism, climate change scepticism, negative attitudes towards the campaign, and opposition to climate action are identified. Literature also indicated that the perceived manipulation might impact the acceptance of manipulative communication. Consequently, an approach was developed to evaluate the acceptance of manipulative communication by considering philosophical perspectives, including perceived morality, harm, and loss of autonomy associated with manipulative communication. A conceptual model illustrating potential relationships of the described potential determinants, biases and evaluation items guided the survey design. The determinants were translated into measurable items formulated by the author based on the literature review, enabling empirical testing. To validate these measurements, a quantitative survey was conducted. A fictitious campaign using social norms to influence energy use behaviours was developed and tested, resulting in 100 valid responses from Dutch citizens. The quantitative data were analysed using reliability analysis, ANOVA, and correlation analysis in SPSS. The quantitative findings revealed high internal reliability for questions related to perceived bypassing rationality, perceived trickery and indifference. While perceived trickery and indifference were measured on four and three items, respectively, bypassing rationality was measured on only two items questioning the validity. The quantitative analysis indicated that perceived trickery and covertness were not significant predictors of perceived manipulation in this example case. Nevertheless, it is crucial to maintain the association of these constructs with the concept of perceived manipulation, as the qualitative data of the experiment indicated that participants often describe manipulation using elements from the constructs of trickery and covertness. Importantly, perceived bypassing rationality and indifference emerged as empirically supported determinants of perceived manipulation, indicating that public communications that bypass logical reasoning, avoid factual information and fail to provide reasons for intended behaviour to the manipulatee are likely to be perceived as manipulative. Contrary to other research, this study found that the source, whether government or energy supplier, does not impact perceptions of manipulative campaigns using social norms and acceptance of manipulative communication. Notably, campaigns that do not provide reasons for the goal increase perceived indifference and covertness by the campaign-makers but do not significantly increase perceptions of manipulation. This research contributes to both societal and scientific domains. By identifying determinants of perceived manipulation, the study provides policymakers with a quantitative tool to measure perceptions of manipulativeness in their communications. This foundation can help policymakers assess perceived manipulation and create ethical guidelines for the growing use of social influences. Scientifically, the study bridges philosophical, and psychological perspectives, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of perceptions of manipulation in public communication. It introduces and validates novel constructs for measuring perceived manipulation, providing empirical evidence on the roles of bypassing rationality and indifference, which can inform future theoretical developments and practical applications in communication strategies. The research faced limitations including a small sample size and the use of a convenience sample, which may not fully represent the general public. The high educational level of participants might have influenced the perception of manipulation. Additionally, the internal consistency between scales was not always robust, impacting the reliability and validity of the measures. Future research should broaden the scope of this study by incorporating more complex issues. By doing so, we can ascertain if the effects of perceived manipulation and its determinants vary with the novelty of the subject matter. This may shed light on why certain suggested determinants of perceived manipulation, such as the level of covertness and trickery aspect, did not demonstrate a significant association with perceived manipulation in the current study. (shrink)

Drawing on a range of philosophical texts, Andrej Radman brings together a collection of 11 of his essays, published over the last decade, to show that when a society manipulates its matter it is not a reflection of culture; it is culture. To speak of ecologies of architecture is to break with judgement for experience. As Gilles Deleuze put it in his book on Nietzsche, it is not about justification, ‘but a different way of feeling: another sensibility’. If to think (...) differently we have to feel differently, then the design of the built environment has no other purpose but to transform us. While engineering is solution-oriented, architecture stays with the problem so as to tease out a creative potential. (shrink)

This thesis explores the interactions between the architect Christopher Alexander and the visionary grouping of architects known as Team 10, with a focus on Alexander's participation in one of Team 10's famous meetingsa t the Abbaye de Royaumont in 1962. Both Alexander and Team 10 went on to make important contributions to architectural history and theory. Both were motivated by a critical appraisal of the high modernism of CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne) to search for new solutions. This paper uncovers (...) some striking parallels in their thinking and approaches, both explicit and implicit. Yet after 1962 their thinking took them in different and increasingly opposing directions. Questions explored include why these differences came about, to what extent they were fundamental, and what a continued collaboration might have achieved. (shrink)

Recent work on philosophy of technology emphasises the ways in which technology can disrupt our concepts and conceptual schemes. We analyse and challenge existing accounts of conceptual disruption, criticising views according to which conceptual disruption can be understood in terms of uncertainty for conceptual application, as well as views assuming all instances of conceptual disruption occur at the same level. We proceed to provide our own account of conceptual disruption as an interruption in the normal functioning of concepts and conceptual (...) schemes. Moreover, we offer a multilevel taxonomy thereof, where we distinguish between instances of conceptual disruptions occurring at different levels (conceptual scheme, conceptual clusters, and individual concepts), taking on different forms (conceptual gaps and conceptual conflicts), and leading to different degrees of severity (extending from mild to severe). We also provide detailed accounts through historical examples of how conceptual gaps and conceptual conflicts can occur at different times in the very same process of conceptual disruption. Finally, we make the case that different kinds of conceptual engineering can provide meaningful ways to assess and overcome distinct types of conceptual disruption. (shrink)

The advancement of AI-based technologies, such as machine learning (ML) systems, for implementation in healthcare is progressing rapidly. Since these systems are used to support healthcare professionals in crucial medical practices, their role in medical decision-making needs to be epistemologically and ethically assessed. However, a central issue at the intersection of the ethics and epistemology of ML has been largely neglected. This pertains to the careful scrutiny of how ML systems can degrade individuals’ epistemic standing as receivers and conveyors of (...) knowledge and, thereby, perpetrate epistemic injustice. Since ML systems are powerful epistemic entities that are not easily contestable, and their decision-making rationale is often inaccessible, it is crucial to consider their role in creating imbalances in patients’ disfavor and the ways to mitigate such imbalances. This is especially important when it comes to interactions between patients and physicians, in which questions of credibility, trust, and understanding are central. Against this background, the overarching purpose of this dissertation is to fill this research gap by providing a framework to identify and, on occasion, mitigate epistemic injustices that are _ML-induced_, i.e., that emerge specifically due to the role that ML systems play in patient-physician interactions. (shrink)

This chapter sets up the upcoming chapters of the book and introduces four essential aspects of value. The topic of value has personal, social, and cultural dimensions, and value considerations are related to conceptual and metaphysical questions. These four dimensions of value correspond to four crucial academic disciplines that have focused their theoretical and empirical attention on value(s): psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. These four disciplines developed their own value theories and conceptualizations of value. To make progress in value theory, (...) an interdisciplinary exchange is necessary. This chapter motivates the book’s aim to provide an accessible introduction and over view of value theories in the four disciplines. Paying attention to how different disciplines approach the topic of value is the first step toward a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and improved understanding of value. (shrink)

Philosophers ask fundamental questions about values and valuing. Some of the philosophical debates about these fundamental questions have repercussions for the value theories of other disciplines. This chapter focuses on crucial conceptual distinctions and philosophical positions about value. For instance, the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic value. The chapter also reviews important metaphysical positions concerning the nature of value, like objectivism and subjectivism. It also touches upon the issue of pluralism and monism, whether there are many values or just one. (...) Finally, the chapter addresses the issue of value change, emphasizing the pragmatist account of value (Dewey). (shrink)

Previous chapters considered value theories of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. These disciplines can benefit and learn from one another, and closer interaction between disciplines will lead to better value theory. To facilitate an interdisciplinary understanding of value, this chapter will highlight the overlap between the different disciplines and what they can learn from one another. Each section of this chapter compares two disciplines and highlights overlaps, similarities, and differences. The hope is that this constructive comparison will build a bridge (...) between disciplines, which helps to advance the theory development within the disciplines and brings theoretical blind spots into focus. Bringing disciplines together is the first step towards crossing disciplinary boundaries, resolving conceptual differences, and increasing interdisciplinary communication. (shrink)

Public attention towards explainability of artificial intelligence (AI) systems has been rising in recent years to offer methodologies for human oversight. This has translated into the proliferation of research outputs, such as from Explainable AI, to enhance transparency and control for system debugging and monitoring, and intelligibility of system process and output for user services. Yet, such outputs are difficult to adopt on a practical level due to a lack of a common regulatory baseline, and the contextual nature of explanations. (...) Governmental policies are now attempting to tackle such exigence, however it remains unclear to what extent published communications, regulations, and standards adopt an informed perspective to support research, industry, and civil interests. In this study, we perform the first thematic and gap analysis of this plethora of policies and standards on explainability in the EU, US, and UK. Through a rigorous survey of policy documents, we first contribute an overview of governmental regulatory trajectories within AI explainability and its sociotechnical impacts. We find that policies are often informed by coarse notions and requirements for explanations. This might be due to the willingness to conciliate explanations foremost as a risk management tool for AI oversight, but also due to the lack of a consensus on what constitutes a valid algorithmic explanation, and how feasible the implementation and deployment of such explanations are across stakeholders of an organization. Informed by AI explainability research, we then conduct a gap analysis of existing policies, which leads us to formulate a set of recommendations on how to address explainability in regulations for AI systems, especially discussing the definition, feasibility, and usability of explanations, as well as allocating accountability to explanation providers. (shrink)

The 2006 health care reforms in the Netherlands were aimed at improving the affordability, accessibility, and quality of health care, as well as freedom in health care. However, the reality is that since the reforms (which include the privatisation of health-care insurance), costs have further increased and accessibility has decreased while freedom of choice has declined. The reforms reduced freedom, while increasing costs and reducing accessibility. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether these issues stem from a deeper (...) (Utilitarian) philosophical foundation of how health care is currently funded and to propose a mode of funding founded on Aristotelian principles that would be in support of freedom without adversely affecting (or even improving) costs, accessibility and quality The analysis of the system of Managed Care (in Chapter 2) and its implementation in The Netherlands (in Chapter 3) suggests that the rising costs of health care may be related at least in part to the utilitarian foundation of this system (with its utility-maximising consumer and its profit-maximising producer who, in an oligopoly like the health-care market, is able to generate super-normal profits), in part to the heavy administrative load associated with Managed Care, and in part due to contracting practices. All of which also restricts freedom of choice. Aristotle's ethics, specifically his \textit{Nicomachean Ethics}, underlines the importance of freedom (of deliberation) as the quintessential requirement for eudaimonia. If this were taken as the philosophical foundation for the health care system, then patients and health care providers would be able to make informed choices that align with their personal goals and values. This freedom of deliberation stands in stark contrast with protocolisation, standardisation and homogenisation that Managed Care brings. Such a system creates a 'monoculture' in which it is difficult to find discernible differences in price and quality, making it equally difficult to identify possible trade-offs between the two and implications of such trade-offs. In Chapter 4 I propose a mode of funding Dutch health care that safeguards freedom of deliberation in health care that would be in line with the Dutch socio-economical environment and political system. The proposed Health Care system is a universal health care system with a single-payer that covers all health care expenses; where medical decision/treatments are made autonomously by client and practitioner without meddling/pressure/ruling by other parties who are not practising health care; where the funding of health care is a matter of transparent deliberation between all parties and a part of political discourse. By prioritising freedom of deliberation, the proposed reforms address the limitations of Managed Care's utilitarian philosophy and offers a more human-centred approach to health care. A system that is based on Aristotelian philosophy creates an environment that encourages open and honest communication between all parties involved and is expected to improve all relevant aspects of the Dutch health care system and health itself. The suggested reforms are far reaching and may seem unrealistic. Its proper functioning would indeed require substantial social reform in all spheres of social life (economic, legal-political, and cultural), though they remain entirely in-line with Dutch socio-econo-political reality. In conclusion, this thesis argues that the Netherlands' health care reform should prioritise freedom of deliberation (the fundamental requirement for eudaimonia). As such individuals' well-being and values are prioritised, which is expected to have beneficial effects including reducing costs and improving the overall quality of care without diminishing access to it. Free deliberation and subsequent cooperation are thought to have more potential than competition. (shrink)

While the prevalent view positions data as an objective and unbiased resource of truth about the world, scholars have noted that this understanding cannot be all-encompassing and data activists may comprehend the relationship between knowledge, reality, and data differently. Data activists are civil society actors with a critical stance towards datafication; they either consider data as a political issue or employ it to advance desirable social change. This article investigates activists’ data epistemologies in a twofold manner. First, it poses the (...) question of how activists can simultaneously use a certain dataset while questioning its credibility. Second, the article explores how activists’ data epistemology transforms other domains of socio-political grassroots interventions. To answer these questions, I turn to the case of the DTP Map–an interactive geoweb map of traffic accidents in Russia made by activists using the official governmental data. Turning to the concept of contentious data politics, I demonstrate how the project transforms by continuously dealing with the data’s epistemologically ambiguous nature. In their data practices aimed at gaining and maintaining the users’ trust, activists have tried to ensure their project will be employed by various collectives for the common goal of reducing traffic accidents in Russia. Their data practices can be considered both a repertoire of social change and a stake of activist intervention. Crucially, in the process of map-making, activists do not gain the epistemologically unambiguous view of data but rather they manage to retain this ambiguity and make it a constitutive part of their project. (shrink)

This book undertakes a multifaceted and integrated examination of biometric identification, including the current state of the technology, how it is being used, the key ethical issues, and the implications for law and regulation. The five chapters examine the main forms of contemporary biometrics–fingerprint recognition, facial recognition and DNA identification– as well the integration of biometric data with other forms of personal data, analyses key ethical concepts in play, including privacy, individual autonomy, collective responsibility, and joint ownership rights, and proposes (...) a raft of principles to guide the regulation of biometrics in liberal democracies. Biometric identification technology is developing rapidly and being implemented more widely, along with other forms of information technology. As products, services and communication moves online, digital identity and security is becoming more important. Biometric identification facilitates this transition. Citizens now use biometrics to access a smartphone or obtain a passport; law enforcement agencies use biometrics in association with CCTV to identify a terrorist in a crowd, or identify a suspect via their fingerprints or DNA; and companies use biometrics to identify their customers and employees. In some cases the use of biometrics is governed by law, in others the technology has developed and been implemented so quickly that, perhaps because it has been viewed as a valuable security enhancement, laws regulating its use have often not been updated to reflect new applications. However, the technology associated with biometrics raises significant ethical problems, including in relation to individual privacy, ownership of biometric data, dual use and, more generally, as is illustrated by the increasing use of biometrics in authoritarian states such as China, the potential for unregulated biometrics to undermine fundamental principles of liberal democracy. Resolving these ethical problems is a vital step towards more effective regulation. (shrink)

In design research, the activities of design and research coalesce. It introduces thorny epistemological challenges and Dewey's pattern of inquiry is explored for its relevance for design research. First, a logical framework for design inquiry is developed that enables to reach warranted conclusions, retrospectively. Second, a temporal framework of activities is inferred, based on the experiences of two PhD candidates. These frameworks offer guidance to (1) develop transferable knowledge; (2) by oscillating between known theories and uncharted practices until new ideas (...) arise; whereby (3) the value of these ideas is validated through experiments (action validity); and (4) with a community of inquiry (consensual validity). The knowledge produced stems from practice, is tested in practice and serves others in future inquiries. (shrink)

The work of Bernard Stiegler (1952–2020) provides invaluable material for rethinking the built environment as a sort of inorganic spatial memory that enables the evolution of life by means other than organic life. Following Stiegler’s theoretical turn toward epiphylogenetic processes, Footprint 30 is devoted to revisiting the built environment as middling between individuating technical ensembles and niche construction processes. It offers a platform to the transdisciplinary field of posthuman scholarship dealing with existential niches from a technological angle and the concomitant (...) architectural thought that advances such speculative recasting. (shrink)

The final conception of my music marvel is to create a binary musical community center with auditorium and rooms for music therapy/school purposes but also creating a space for urban “flaneur” the wanderer of the city that can visit accidently and still have memorable experiences through seasonal exhibitions and pop up shows. The space will be divided into active and passive spaces, in which the active space will consist of an auditorium and acoustics insulated rooms for musical activities, and the (...) passive space with an amphitheater in an open space with possibilities to enclose or create exhibitions through ephemeral structures such as scaffolding. The two spaces will be “divided” through a sphere roof structure creating a “surreal” different experience both from the outside and in the inside. The dome will also help with the passive climate system making the center more sustainable. Although defined, the active spaces also can be flexible as they will have modular adaptable structures that can become the desired size. “Form does not follow function. Function follows vision. Vision follows reality.” As Huizinga states in his book Homo Ludens, it is essential for humanity to maintain the play element for the development of society. As a result, the Music Marvel initiative may benefit society by adding a layer of that playfulness to the urban environment. More than just playfulness, it will be a place where music will be boosted to reach the guests’ unconscious thoughts and assist them escape the stresses of everyday life. The structure will serve both as cultural hub and an artifact, with the goal of assisting in qualifying the city by inspiring discussions that go beyond the architecture but as a vehicle and instrument for change. A mental curating center through music. (shrink)

The final conception of my music marvel is to create a binary musical community center with auditorium and rooms for music therapy/school purposes but also creating a space for urban “flaneur” the wanderer of the city that can visit accidently and still have memorable experiences through seasonal exhibitions and pop up shows. The space will be divided into active and passive spaces, in which the active space will consist of an auditorium and acoustics insulated rooms for musical activities, and the (...) passive space with an amphitheater in an open space with possibilities to enclose or create exhibitions through ephemeral structures such as scaffolding. The two spaces will be “divided” through a sphere roof structure creating a “surreal” different experience both from the outside and in the inside. The dome will also help with the passive climate system making the center more sustainable. Although defined, the active spaces also can be flexible as they will have modular adaptable structures that can become the desired size. “Form does not follow function. Function follows vision. Vision follows reality.” As Huizinga states in his book Homo Ludens, it is essential for humanity to maintain the play element for the development of society. As a result, the Music Marvel initiative may benefit society by adding a layer of that playfulness to the urban environment. More than just playfulness, it will be a place where music will be boosted to reach the guests’ unconscious thoughts and assist them escape the stresses of everyday life. The structure will serve both as cultural hub and an artifact, with the goal of assisting in qualifying the city by inspiring discussions that go beyond the architecture but as a vehicle and instrument for change. A mental curating center through music. (shrink)

Classical theories of harmony have been used to explain phenomena like beauty, happiness, health, virtue, pleasure, peace, and even ecological sustainability. With the intent of making these theories more accessible to designers, this article reviews the conception of harmony from about 500 BCE to the present. It begins with a brief overview of harmony in classical Chinese and Greek philosophy. Then it examines the role of harmony in the renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the early modern period across topics in (...) aesthetics, ethics, physics, politics, and economics. Finally, turning to the 20th century, this article highlights the conceptual function of harmony in psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and design. This synthesis concludes with a review of applications and implications for contemporary designers. An essential conclusion of this article is that harmony involves the integration of diversity into a greater whole; harmony is not pure agreement or “sameness.” Overall, we suggest that classical principles of harmony might serve as a theoretical framework to help designers develop a more sustainable and vibrant vision of the future. (shrink)

Philosophy of emotions has become an established sub-discipline of philosophy, and emotions are no longer exclusively seen as disturbances that threaten our rational faculties. Philosophers now take seriously the multi-facetted relation between emotion, knowledge, and reason. Laura Candiotto's edited volume on emotions and their role in epistemic practice brings together texts that look at this relation from different angles and from different traditions. The volume includes texts that zoom in on a wide variety of themes, like agency, emotion regulation, group (...) emotions and social epistemology, cognitive science, and pragmatist accounts of emotions. The book will be interesting not only for those engaging with philosophy of emotions but... (shrink)

Speculative design is a subsidiary field of critical design practice. It generally involves developing scenarios based on a central object, often a prototype. Because it is concerned with alternative present and future states, many acknowledge the potential of speculative design for raising critical discussion and public engagement on science, technology, and society. In this article, we ask how the analogy of speculative design to thought experiments highlights or problematizes certain aspects of speculative design. Building on the work of Anthony Dunne (...) and Fiona Raby, we answer this question through a comparative conceptual analysis of speculative design and thought experimentation as they are understood in their original contexts. We go on to create a theoretical framework applied to four cases: Metamorphism; Walden, a game; The Substitute; and GoatMan. We argue that understanding speculative design by analogy to thought experiments could help design practitioners better achieve the aim of public engagement, enabling a more inclusive and nuanced discussion about the form and style of speculative design. (shrink)

This paper is a methodological replication of Barendregt et al. [11], who urged Child-Computer Interaction field to embrace Intermediate Level Knowledge as a meaningful and valid way of generating knowledge. We extend this epistemological gap to the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Currently, artefact-centered papers - papers that present the development of an artefact - seem to be one of the primary ways that the HRI field generates knowledge. In this paper, we made an analysis of all papers presented at the HRI (...) Conference from 2006 to 2020. Our results indicate that the 41,2 % of the papers were artefact-centered; and the impact of them, measured in the number of citations, was significantly lower than other kinds of papers. We used 23 artefact-centered papers to formulate two strong concepts and investigate how the foundational design epistemology about intermediate-level knowledge and RtD can contribute to other design-related disciplines to produce useful and valuable knowledge. (shrink)

This paper provides a retrospective and prospective overview of TU Delft’s approach to engineering ethics education. For over twenty years, the Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Section at TU Delft has been at the forefront of engineering ethics education, offering education to a wide range of engineering and design students. The approach developed at TU Delft is deeply informed by the research of the Section, which is centered around Responsible Research and Innovation, Design for Values, and Risk Ethics. These theoretical (...) approaches are premised on the notion that technologies are inherently value-laden, and as such contain the possibility of fostering or hindering moral values. Each of these approaches encourages students to take a proactive attitude with respect to their projects and profession, thinking creatively about – and taking responsibility for – how to both prevent harm and do good via the technologies they help develop. To explain how this is put into practice, this paper sketches a brief history of ethics teaching at TU Delft, outlines current activities, and presents future plans for Bachelor and Master’s level engineering ethics education at TU Delft. (shrink)

The title of the research, and consequently the guiding principle behind the design, making is thinking, stemmed from a frustration with the often-held view that the latter is of greater importance than the former. That thinking, as our intellect of the mind, is of a superior motive to the things we do or make with our hands, and this is a condition which belongs to both society and the individual’s psychology. However, I believe this is not the case. I have (...) the view that making is fundamental to our being and complements our thinking as its equal. Part of the research was a search through history, to explore whether this distinction had always been made, and if not, why and how it had happened. The history of our intellectual developments is a long and very rich one, and it is the reason why we practice architecture the way we do today. It is essentially a question of representation: what architecture, and the other things of our making, represent, but also how those things are representative of the tools we use to make them. Yet the idea that the thing in question represents a larger, intellectual or philosophical field might not have always been the case. A contemporary art historian, makes an extraordinary case for an origin of architecture in the Archaic Greek temple which had to first exist before man could have the necessary perception of things to theorise about them. Like Heidegger before her, she reasons that it is in the beautifully made art work, through the human perception of depth, which belongs to all of our senses, that human beings can take the outlook upon themselves. In her argument, making is what allowed man to think. But really, the most fundamental conclusion from the research, and essential to the project, was that things, and architecture most definitely is a thing—philosophically speaking—are defined by the matter from which they are made. Yet this is often a mistrusted truth. Our history has made us doubt this truth. That same history has given us the practice to which we adhere today, but for those of us who believe in the importance of things, and their importance as our frame of reference for a sense of being in the world, or as Heidegger would call it, a sense of dwelling, then how those things are made is an ethical and extremely important question. However, to accept only our origin is to deny the rest of the human condition which belongs to the entirety of human history. Therefore, the scientific and political realm to which architecture now rightfully belongs, through our intellectual developments in representation, cannot be dismissed. Design then is about the mediation between the two—between our poetic, communicative origins, and our intellectual, instrumental present condition. In practice it is about the balance between thinking and making—our heads and our hands. Along side the philosophical undertaking of the research a series of making exercises were undertaken. These four cubes were made with only two rules. Firstly, the shape, the cube. And secondly, the knowledge and potential of the material itself. These cubes were specifically about the making of things bound to their inherent material properties. They were made by the material guiding me, and not the other way around. This is the definition of making, thought of by its philosophical and etymological definition. In Greek poiesis means to make, but furthermore, and as Heidegger defined it, it means to bring something into being that did not exist before. It is the mimesis of nature. And so, the poet takes from the things that surround him and he makes them his own. This is how the architect acts ethically too—by making things appropriate to the place and for the people who they provide space. And this was the very objective of the design thesis, _Moments for Repose; Making Along the Pennine Way_, to explore, through making, how one can act poetically. (shrink)

This special issue aims to explore what is educational in the seemingly humble gesture of making notes: not only how and why the practice of note-taking is educative in and of itself, but also what it says about education as such. The contributions to the issue each highlight different aspects of note-making and approach it differently, but all assume that note-making is an educational practice that merits philosophical study. Interestingly, they mostly focus on note-making as a non-digital practice (putting aside (...) the use of laptops for note-making in class), perhaps because most were written prior to the great digitisation ushered in by educational institutions’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Let us first address how we see the different aspects of note-making highlighted by the contributions to the issue. (shrink)

This paper undertakes a critical and constructive investigation into the applicability of value sensitive design (VSD) and design for values (DfV) methodologies for urban technologies, as a means to envision and enact responsible urban innovations. In particular, this paper focuses on the identification and analysis of values in urban technologies. First, an important methodological critique is highlighted, namely the vague articulation of ‘values' in VSD and DfV discourse. Next, cities are characterized as open, dynamic, and evolving systems, with ‘urban technologies’ (...) as co-shapers of this process. This highlights the unique conditions requiring attention in order to arrive at a robust understanding of the relationship between values and urban technologies. Finally, these insights are combined to propose and sketch six heuristic principles aimed at surfacing and analysing values in urban technologies, offering a refinement of value-sensitive methodologies for the context of urban technological innovation. (shrink)

Interest in design methods and tools has been steadily growing in HRI. Yet, design is not acknowledged as a discipline with specific epistemology and methodology. Designerly HRI work is validated through user studies which, we argue, provide a limited account of the knowledge design produces. This paper aims to broaden current understanding of designerly HRI work and its contributions by unpacking what designerly knowledge is and how to produce it. Through a critical analysis of current HRI design literature, we identify (...) a lack of work dedicated to understanding the conceptual implications of robotic artifacts. These, in fact, are implicit carriers of crucial HRI knowledge that can challenge established assumptions about how a robot should look, act, and be like. We conclude by discussing a set of practices desirable to legitimize designerly HRI work, and calling for further research addressing the conceptual implications designerly HRI work. (shrink)

As a part of JMP at TU Delft, we had the opportunity to design for implementation of sex education in Indonesia. We were unable to explore the culture of Bali together as a design team because of which we had our own assumptions, perceptions of what the culture is or could be. And most importantly in the project we had reduced a whole culture to a set of constraints we needed to design for. This was deeply troubling. So in order (...) to tackle this issue of culture clash and the need to be sensitive to other cultures, this project was born. The cultural element of Japan and their design philosophy were an inspiration. Their design philosophy and culture are weaved together to form one coherent Japanese Design Philosophy. To address the cultural dilemma for designers, it was decided to bring design philosophies into this project so that one could frame design philosophies based on the culture they design for. The target group for this project was the Master’s design students of TU Delft from the Industrial Design Engineering department. The research began with understanding of existing design philosophies such as Japanese Design Philosophies, Bauhaus and De-Stijl movements, Buen-Vivir centric design model. These formed the basis on how the design philosophies manifested and how it was culturally connected with their respective cultures. Interviewing two design studios viz. Butterflyworks, Netherlands and Whitenoise Design, India gave an opportunity to understand the workings, the tools they used for designing and gave an in-depth understanding of their design philosophy. These case studies provided a strong basic understanding of design philosophy and when should one consider a design philosophy a design philosophy. Keeping this in mind, the next step was to see how one can frame design philosophies depending on a certain context and culture. This was executed by having design students from TU Delft undergoing co-developing sessions using sensitising material and insights from Cultura tool. Students from the sessions developed the design philosophies which were rooted to the context and the culture. These sessions were analysed to extract the process of developing design philosophies along with the content that required to develop the design philosophies. These inputs were further translated to toolkit requirements and interventions. This way a toolkit could aid the designers in developing culture and context driven design philosophies. The ideation for the toolkit began with ‘The Card Set’ which was tested with designers. Though it had some flaws, the participants were able to successfully develop design philosophies. A new concept ‘The Board Set’ was born which was much more refined. In order to make the interactions much more fun and meaningful, a third concept ‘The Block Set’ was developed. This involved exploration cards, blocks, response sheets. The designers would undergo initial exploration of self, culture and later develop the design philosophy as a team. This was surveyed with designers, who mentioned that the toolkit definitely provides moments of reflection and brings teams and cultures together without compromising on either of them. (shrink)

The present book addresses a topic that seems common-place, and yet is often overlooked in many architectural debates and practice. Everything takes place, and architecture, by default, is a profession that deals with, intervenes in, transforms and creates places. However, in contemporary architecture, in the globalized world of today, the understanding of the particular place in which a building or a city is situated is either taken for granted or not addressed at all. In this publication, that was preceded by (...) an international seminar held at Tampere University of Technology School of Architecture in Tampere, Finland, in 2017,1 we aimed to bring the concept of place back to the centre stage, and to reflect on the experience of place and the complexities of situation from both a philosophical and a practical perspective. Acknowledging that place is a complex phenomenon, the present publication focuses on un- derstanding and designing place from different perspectives. In doing so, it will specifically draw on connections between architecture and philosophy in addressing issues of place. (shrink)

This research project aims to identify and describe those qualities that contribute to an architectural response to nature’s phenomena, such as time and space, our spatial conception and experience, and our relationship with nature. Often these qualities are present in the form of architectural elements and methods, composition of elements. Possibly this research develops tools based on Japanese philosophical and architectural principles and notions in which emptiness and ephemerality play a key role.

In this Conversation session we explored the two contrasting philosophical perspectives of Pragmatism and Inventivism. Pragmatism tends to focus on technical objects as fulfilling a purpose for mankind in a concrete situational context. In contrast, the French philosopher Gilbert Simondon introduces an Inventivist philosophical position in which technical objects a) have their own mode of being called technicity, b) are becoming more open, and c) should not be reduced to a purpose, as that hinders their co-emergence with mankind - a (...) problematic position with regards to design. The Conversation took the form of exploring an imaginary design case revolving around using the technology of a wildlife camera to design for a dinner table setting. Two imaginary design teams were formed, each operating in a philosophical 'clearing' representing one of the perspectives. Moderators supported each team. Each team had a wildlife camera at their disposal to work with, which at the same time captured each session at selected points. Four participants joined the Conversation session, two per clearing. Halfway through the session the participants reflected intermediately and then one each swapped clearings. The last 10 minutes were spent on a joint reflection. This exploration indicates how the differences in philosophical positions play out when entering concrete design consideration. (shrink)

We challenge the unquestioning pursuit of the appearance of objectivity and ingrained designer-user dualism in human-centred design research and propose a resurrection of introspection as a valid approach to investigating subjective experiences. Through comparing epistemic perspectives and reviewing the histories of introspection in several disciplines, we liberate the research field of experience-driven design from a long-lasting doubt about and the disguised and unsystematic use of this method. To establish a foundation for the further development of introspective methods, we focus on (...) its most controversial type (i.e. researcher introspection) and discuss its strengths and weaknesses, preconditions of use, diverse ways to practise for different suitable experiencedriven design research purposes, and useful techniques and tools. (shrink)

Human Factors issues with automated driving systems (ADS) are becoming more apparent with the increasing prevalence of automated vehicles on the public roads. As automated driving demands increased performance of supervisory skills of the driver, rather than vehicle handling skills, a mismatch occurs between the demand and supply of the drivers’ skillset. Therefore, it has been suggested that drivers should at all times have meaningful human control (MHC) over ADS. The basic idea behind MHC is derived from the debate on (...) autonomous weapon systems, and entails three essential components: human operators are (1) making informed, conscious decisions, (2) sufficiently informed about lawfulness of an action and its context, and (3) properly trained, to ensure effective control over the use of ADS. This paper presents definitions, components and potential human roles within ADS, from an interdisciplinary and a MHC perspective. The ideas presented in this paper are valuable to both designers, manufacturers, and road operators, as well as policy makers, driving licensing bodies, and lawyers and insurers, and our future research into these topics will deliver usable results for all stakeholders. (shrink)

Ethics is a field in which the gap between words and actions looms large. Game theory and the empirical methods it inspires look at behavior instead of the lip service people sometimes pay to norms. We believe that this special issue comprises several illustrations of the fruitful application of this approach to ethics.

Some years ago, Lokhorst proposed an intuitionistic reformulation of Mally's deontic logic. This reformulation was unsatisfactory, because it provided a striking theorem that Mally himself did not mention. In this paper, we present an alternative reformulation of Mally's deontic logic that does not provide this theorem.

This thesis is an attempt to clarify a concept we are all familiar with, engineers and non-engineers alike. It shows that, behind the first impression of familiarity, there is a wide range of intuitions about failure which are not easily reconciled. While the ensuing ambiguities and lack of clarity may be tolerated in ordinary circumstances, engineers strive for precision and efficiency. These qualities become even more relevant given that engineering activities are increasingly carried out by multidisciplinary and multicultural teams. The (...) chapters included in this thesis illustrate that pursuing conceptual clarification may result in valuable contributions to the existing literature. The identification of tacit assumptions that, so far, have gone undetected can help bringing some degree of order and unity to discussions that have shown a tendency towards fragmentation along disciplinary boundaries. As a whole, these chapters constitute the preliminaries of a conceptual framework that, once supplemented with additional engineering and philosophical contributions, may embrace the multiple facets of failure; a rather complex tangle of phenomena which, despite engineers’ efforts to rein it in, is not going to disappear from the engineering agenda anytime soon. (shrink)

What people are realistically able to do and be in their lives, their capabilities, are of central moral importance according to the capability approach of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. Examples are the capabilities to be healthy or to be part of a community. The CA has become an influential normative framework for reflecting on justice, equality, well-being and development. In the past decades it has been successfully applied to areas such as education and health care. Only quite recently have (...) scholars started to use the CA to reflect on technology, for example on the contribution of ICT to development in the Global South. Much of this work is empirical. This dissertation contributes to the theoretical foundations for future empirical and ethical work by providing a philosophical exploration of how the CA can be brought to bear on technology. It discusses the applicability and added value of the CA for the design of technical artifacts, for the evaluation of technological development projects, and for the assessment of technology from the perspective of the good life. One main question addressed in this dissertation is which technology theories and design approaches could fruitfully supplement the CA, in order to ‘operationalize’ it in this new area. For this purpose participatory design, value sensitive design, the use plan account of technical artifacts, inclusive/universal design, actor-network theory, appropriate technology, pluralist theories of technology and the system/network view of technology are discussed. Another guiding question is what the exact nature is of human capabilities as discussed in the CA, and technology in the sense of technical artifacts, and how we can then conceptualize the relation between them. It is argued that we need to regularly move back and forth between ‘zooming in’ and ‘zooming out’. The former allows us to see the details of design of technical artifacts, the latter how exactly technical artifacts are embedded in broader socio-technical networks. Both, it is claimed, are crucial for the expansion of human capabilities. (shrink)

Philosophers of science have by and large neglected technology. In this book, I have tried to do something about this lacuna by analyzing a few aspects of technical artifacts from a philosophical angle. The project was part of the research program "The Dual Nature of Technical Artifacts" based at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Technical artifacts are both plain physical objects and objects that have been purposefully made for a purpose; which is to say they have a physical (...) structure and a technical function. As a result, they belong equally in a purely physical conceptualisation of the world "in which human intentions and goals seem to have no place" and in an intentional conceptualisation, which is used to describe and understand people and their mental lives. My main goal was to find out how these two philosophically very different aspects of artifacts are related to one another. To achieve this goal, I looked at two contexts in which these aspects are regularly brought together in a systematic fashion. First, the context of design; design can be characterized as a transition from a desired function or goal to a physical structure. In particular, I have studied and analyzed the role of functional decomposition in design processes. The second context is the explanation of how artifacts are able to fulfill their technical function in virtue of their specific physical structure. The result of this part of the project is a general account of such explanations. (shrink)

The technological literacy of students has recently become one of the primary goals of education in countries such as the USA, England, New Zealand, Australia, and so forth. However the question here is whether these educations - their long-term policy documents as well as the standards they provide in particular - address sufficient learning about the nature of technology. This seems to be an important concern that through taking advantage of the philosophy of technology (the arena which affords a bountiful (...) ground of various reflections on the nature of technology) is intended to be discussed throughout this study. In the first place, the paper presents a relevant framework based upon Mitcham's (1994) four-aspect account of technology, i.e., technology as objects, knowledge, activities, and volition. Then it categorizes the main relevant concepts and concerns put forward by many other philosophers of technology into this framework; this will yield a concrete model (tool) to analyze any intended standard such as the above mentioned ones. Afterwards, to show how this model works, the well-known case of the USA - Standards for Technological Literacy (ITEA, 2007) - will be used as an example for inspection; the results will disclose the points where the current American case needs to be modified. (shrink)

New Zealand’s curriculum, in terms of its approach to technological literacy, attempts to deliver a sound, philosophy-­based understanding of the nature of technology. The curriculum’s main authors claim that it conforms well to Mitcham’s (2014) categorization of different aspects of technology’s nature. Nevertheless, taking advantage of the existing literature of the philosophy of technology, this paper will reveal that the intended urriculum, though an admirable approach, still has a number of points needing improvement, and there are also certain gaps to (...) be bridged in the claimed conformity. This analysis primarily makes use of the method initiated by Nia and De Vries (2016a), based upon Mitcham’s suggested framework and other philosophers’ opinions as to the nature and various features of technology. (shrink)

Given the water governance regime, how potent is the normative practice idea in the case of hydrosystems management? How can the normative practice framework explain the failure of the water governance of the Zayandehrud, and how can this explanation improve water governance both in thsi case and more generally? Can the govervance of the Zayandehrud be understood as a normative practice? If so, how can the distribution of responsibilities, interests and norms, as analysed by the normative practice framework, be seen (...) as a cause of the conflicts that have arisen in the water governance of this river? How are different ways of thinking in the Zayandehrud case shaping the distribution of responsibilities, interests and norms that are causing the conflict within a water-management practice? (shrink)

In the aftermath of a normalized Foucaultian world with an all encompassing web of biopower, one remaining hope is to cultivate nimbleness. Nimbleness is an embodied aesthetic sensitivity to the material presence. Cultivating nimbleness is a particular style of cultivation; it is to willfully gather together one’s self in the wake of a formative force far richer than the derivative web of living power relationships of human embeddness within a horizon of social, economical, political and historical subjectivating power relations; which (...) are chronicled and labeled by Michel Foucault as the normalizing practices of biopower. In other words to have freedom, one must start by rejecting the categories and labels normally internalized in order to relearn to learn from the material presence. Such a style of cultivation is a means of resisting normalizing power relations which co-opt cultivating practices to engross their own dominance which has had the by-product of an impotence to negate the gross material injustices present. This normalizing style of cultivation is a prevalent, corrupted, semblance which denies the importance of beauty for that of efficiency, rejects non-human purposiveness, and limits its measure of ethics to short term economical pragmatism. The thesis acknowledges that something is awry with the world and that giving care to beauty might help. The aim is to examine the event of Beauty as depicted by the philosopher Immanuel Kant and to apply this characterization to elective architectural spaces such that it may motivate individuals to cultivate their own nimbleness in relation to a formative force of nature. However given the revealed need for sensitivity to the particular material presence, the thesis can not be a rule book or catalog for beautiful design. Rather it is a rehabilitation for architects who are already heterospatially curious, with the desired outcome of architects cultivating their own nimbleness to reflectively judge as a ground up, multi-node, rhizomatic means of resistance to normalizing power practices as manifest in bad architecture. (shrink)

This Master Thesis as presented to the chair of Explore Lab 14 of the TU Delft, deals with the issue of perspective. The problem that architecture is all too often drawn out of a singular perspective and even opposes different modes of perception, is an issue which influences the role of the architect. This problem, generated at the hand of massmedia, assists in the construction of perspectives on life that in certain pataphysical instances make such an ‘activity of living’ into (...) a completely absurd experience. A sort of ‘Hyperculture’ is constructed as tradition are denounced and embraced in society. This phenomenon is catalyzed by rapidly evolving technologies and methods of communication, and poses a problem whether a Hyperculture is absolute or not. To what extend are we dependend on traditions, and to what extend are these traditions a threath to the survival of our species? To generate architecture that facilitates both the current zeitgeist as well as a localized identity, is the imperative for the architecture of the 21st century. Not just subcultures struggle at the hand of hyperculture, but also certain professions, as economic and political life changes from day to day. In this contemporary context of hypermodernity, an entirely new generation of architects is emerging with seemingly unlimited technological possibilities. But is the current generation of architects ready to introduce them into this profession, or must we seek others to do so? The research concludes that the architects can do nothing but observe, and as such the problem of hyperculture transcends onto other actors involved in the architectural construction process: the hypercraftsman. The individual who wields these new technologies has the upperhand in deciding which traditions fuel his professional ability, and which traditions pose a threath not only to his profession, but also to the quality of the products of his making and a quality of life that these products generate. ‘How is hypermodernization apparent in professions that contribute to a broadening of design possibilities in Dutch architectural design and what is the added value of these possibilities?’ is the research question that is propoosed for this thesis. The conclusions of this research implies changes for the role of the architect as the rapid emergence of new design and manufacturing possibilities requires cooperation to a much greater extend than in contemporary architectural design. By introducing new stakeholders in the design process hyperculture may be deflected. Leading to a much greater degree of freedom for both the user and the maker-designer. This work adresses contemporary manufacturing methods and technologies and may contribute to the evolution of positive anomalies in socio-technical regimes. (shrink)

Artifacts are probably our most obvious everyday encounter with technology. Therefore, a good understanding of the nature of technical artifacts is a relevant part of technological literacy. In this article we draw from the philosophy of technology to develop a conceptualization of technical artifacts that can be used for educational purposes. Furthermore we report a small exploratory empirical study to see to what extent teachers’ intuitive ideas about artifacts match with the way philosophers write about the nature of artifacts. Finally, (...) we suggest a teaching and learning strategy for improving teachers’ concepts of technical artifacts through practical activities. (shrink)

The concept of technical function is a key concept to describe technical artifacts and artifacts-to-be-designed. Engineers often give such descriptions in terms of functional decomposition models, which represent relationships between functions and sets of other functions. Despite the importance of the concept of function there is no consensus among engineers about its meaning. Models of functional decomposition are likewise conceptually divergent. Although this conceptual diversity hampers information exchange between engineers, they accept and maintain it. Engineers do not, by and large, (...) engage in a focused debate to establish commonly shared functional conceptualizations. This contrasts with science where both debates on the adequacy of key conceptualizations and convergence toward shared conceptualizations are common. This book investigates the side-by-side usage of different functional decomposition models in engineering. It explains this phenomenon by applying and extending the analysis of theory choice in terms of methodological incommensurability to engineering functional decomposition, rather than to science. This analysis shows that engineers’ usage of competing functional decomposition models is rational from a practical point of view. This book furthermore investigates the communication problems that the side-by-side usage of different models engenders and presents a strategy that supports the exchange and re-use of functional information between engineers. (shrink)