Clive Dilnot

In these four volumes, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot addresses central issues for our understanding of design and its place in the world. The individual volumes deal respectively with history, configuration, ethics and knowledge. In On Ethics, Dilnot returns to a long-standing concern with the relationship and responsibilities of design and ethics, reassessing his earlier writings in the field and extending them in response to recent work in anthropology and economics. Dilnot considers the gift economy and variants of 'slow' or no-growth qualitative economics, the question of capabilities and philosophy, especially on the relation of ethics and politics and on questions of justice. Dilnot asserts that the question of ethics is precisely a question of design, linking this directly to the question of how we can act well in the world-as-artificial. Dilnot argues for a conceptualisation of design beyond its transitional professional boundaries, to be thought of as a mode of acting in the world. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

In these four volumes, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot addresses central issues for our understanding of design and its place in the world. The individual volumes deal respectively with history, configuration, ethics and knowledge. In On Ethics, Dilnot returns to a long-standing concern with the relationship and responsibilities of design and ethics, reassessing his earlier writings in the field and extending them in response to recent work in anthropology and economics. Dilnot considers the gift economy and variants of 'slow' or no-growth qualitative economics, the question of capabilities and philosophy, especially on the relation of ethics and politics and on questions of justice. Dilnot asserts that the question of ethics is precisely a question of design, linking this directly to the question of how we can act well in the world-as-artificial. Dilnot argues for a conceptualisation of design beyond its transitional professional boundaries, to be thought of as a mode of acting in the world. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

In these four volumes, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot addresses key issues for our understanding of design and its place in the world. The individual volumes deal respectively with history, configuration, ethics and knowledge. On Configuration opens with a discussion of configuration as the essential 'moment' of design work. Dilnot examines what is particular to designed configurations, differentiating them from technological arrangement and exploring the presence in design of the negotiation between in-commensurable demands. This theoretical discussion is explored through an extended case-study of the famous London Underground diagram. He moves on to address the poetics and speculative structure of configuration, the interior structure of artifacts, the ethical truth of design and the concept of situated ethics. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

In these four volumes, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot addresses key issues for our understanding of design and its place in the world. The individual volumes deal respectively with history, configuration, ethics and knowledge. On Configuration opens with a discussion of configuration as the essential 'moment' of design work. Dilnot examines what is particular to designed configurations, differentiating them from technological arrangement and exploring the presence in design of the negotiation between in-commensurable demands. This theoretical discussion is explored through an extended case-study of the famous London Underground diagram. He moves on to address the poetics and speculative structure of configuration, the interior structure of artifacts, the ethical truth of design and the concept of situated ethics. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

In On Knowledge, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot poses the questions: What does design know? What is the nature of design knowledge? This short book brings together three key writings by Dilnot on the relation of design and understanding. Design as Socially Significant Activity reads design in its social context, and links ethical issues with questions of design understanding and design knowledge. In The Science of Uncertainty, Dilnot examines the general lack of knowledge concerning the invisibility of design as knowledge. Linked also to the onset of the 'artificial', Dilnot sets out an agenda for understanding design as a mode of knowing essential to deciding how we should act in the emerging world. Finally, Design, Knowledge and Human Interests considers the complex and important relations of theory and practice in knowing. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

In On Knowledge, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot poses the questions: What does design know? What is the nature of design knowledge? This short book brings together three key writings by Dilnot on the relation of design and understanding. Design as Socially Significant Activity reads design in its social context, and links ethical issues with questions of design understanding and design knowledge. In The Science of Uncertainty, Dilnot examines the general lack of knowledge concerning the invisibility of design as knowledge. Linked also to the onset of the 'artificial', Dilnot sets out an agenda for understanding design as a mode of knowing essential to deciding how we should act in the emerging world. Finally, Design, Knowledge and Human Interests considers the complex and important relations of theory and practice in knowing. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

In recent decades, the field of design has expanded. Moreover, there has been a significant historical shift to a world essentially defined by artifice. The onset of the Anthropocene - the epoch in which human impact upon our planet has become irreversible - is the most dramatic symptom of this phenomenon. In these conditions, we are forced to consider the extent to which design should be understood less as a subaltern moment of action, and more as a necessary mode of acting in general. But what then are the characteristics, the advantages, the limits, and the possibilities of understanding acting in general through the model or lens of design? In particular, is the model of “action as design” capable of engaging with the destructive tensions bequeathed to us by the industrial economy, now reinforced by neo-liberalism? This book offers a conception of our times, an examination in what is entailed in this view concerning the character of our century, and explores the implications of design and acting in the 21st century. Its underlying insight is the following: today it is the artificial, and no longer nature, which constitutes the horizon, medium and condition of existence.

In recent decades, the field of design has expanded. Moreover, there has been a significant historical shift to a world essentially defined by artifice. The onset of the Anthropocene - the epoch in which human impact upon our planet has become irreversible - is the most dramatic symptom of this phenomenon. In these conditions, we are forced to consider the extent to which design should be understood less as a subaltern moment of action, and more as a necessary mode of acting in general. But what then are the characteristics, the advantages, the limits, and the possibilities of understanding acting in general through the model or lens of design? In particular, is the model of “action as design” capable of engaging with the destructive tensions bequeathed to us by the industrial economy, now reinforced by neo-liberalism? This book offers a conception of our times, an examination in what is entailed in this view concerning the character of our century, and explores the implications of design and acting in the 21st century. Its underlying insight is the following: today it is the artificial, and no longer nature, which constitutes the horizon, medium and condition of existence.

In these four volumes, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot addresses central issues for our understanding of design and its place in the world. The individual volumes deal respectively with history, configuration, ethics and knowledge. In On History, Dilnot considers the state and status of design history. He views design history as the history of industrial capitalism, situating the history of design as a contribution to capitalist, economic and social history. Here Dilnot asks how we understand both economics in the strict sense and also the as the wider political economies of early and late capitalism. On History also explores the idea of agency in design, and looks at how designers negotiate forces and circumstances, referencing Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Luis Barragan, but with a major focus on the question of how we model the complexity of design agency and draw from that a methodology of history. Finally, Dilnot addresses the idea of design as a redemptive force, offering an extended manifesto of the ethical force of historical work in relation to design. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

In these four volumes, leading design thinker Clive Dilnot addresses central issues for our understanding of design and its place in the world. The individual volumes deal respectively with history, configuration, ethics and knowledge. In On History, Dilnot considers the state and status of design history. He views design history as the history of industrial capitalism, situating the history of design as a contribution to capitalist, economic and social history. Here Dilnot asks how we understand both economics in the strict sense and also the as the wider political economies of early and late capitalism. On History also explores the idea of agency in design, and looks at how designers negotiate forces and circumstances, referencing Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Luis Barragan, but with a major focus on the question of how we model the complexity of design agency and draw from that a methodology of history. Finally, Dilnot addresses the idea of design as a redemptive force, offering an extended manifesto of the ethical force of historical work in relation to design. This is an important update of one of Dilnot's seminal theoretical works, and it should be of interest to all design scholars and practitioners.

Design and the Question of History is not a work of Design History. Rather, it is a mixture of mediation, advocacy and polemic that takes seriously the directive force of design as an historical actor in and upon the world. Understanding design as a shaper of worlds within which the political, ethical and historical character of human being is at stake, this text demands radically transformed notions of both design and history. Above all, the authors posit history as the generational site of the future. Blindness to history, it is suggested, blinds us both to possibility, and to the foreclosure of possibilities, enacted through our designing. The text is not a resolved, continuous work, presented through one voice. Rather, the three authors cut across each other, presenting readers with the task of disclosing, to themselves, the commonalities, repetitions and differences within the deployed arguments, issues, approaches and styles from which the text is constituted. This is a work of friendship, of solidarity in difference, an act of cultural politics. It invites the reader to take a position – it seeks engagement over agreement.

Design and the Question of History is not a work of Design History. Rather, it is a mixture of mediation, advocacy and polemic that takes seriously the directive force of design as an historical actor in and upon the world. Understanding design as a shaper of worlds within which the political, ethical and historical character of human being is at stake, this text demands radically transformed notions of both design and history. Above all, the authors posit history as the generational site of the future. Blindness to history, it is suggested, blinds us both to possibility, and to the foreclosure of possibilities, enacted through our designing. The text is not a resolved, continuous work, presented through one voice. Rather, the three authors cut across each other, presenting readers with the task of disclosing, to themselves, the commonalities, repetitions and differences within the deployed arguments, issues, approaches and styles from which the text is constituted. This is a work of friendship, of solidarity in difference, an act of cultural politics. It invites the reader to take a position - it seeks engagement over agreement.