What is design philosophy and why is it needed? This important book explains the discipline’s recent emergence, the key questions which dominate it, and its potential to fundamentally change the way we practice and think about design. The reader comprises eight thematic sections, each featuring a short, contextualising introduction and an annotated bibliography. It considers social, graphic, product and industrial design, and presents the writings of such leading design thinkers and philosophers as Deleuze and Heidegger, Aristotle and Plato. With texts ranging from philosophically informed writing on design and culture, to ancient and contemporary philosophy which addresses the concept of design, The Design Philosophy Reader is an impressive and pioneering work.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction, Anne Marie Willis PART 1: THE ESSENCE OF DESIGN Introduction 1. The Fault of Epimetheus, Bernard Stiegler 2. In the Beginning, Tony Fry 3. A Cautious Prometheus? A Few Steps Toward a Philosophy of Design, Bruno Latour 4. The Depth of Design, Albert Borgmann 5. Design as an Ontological Question, Tony Fry Guide to Further Reading PART 2: THE PRACTICE OF DESIGN Introduction 6. Science, Art and Practical Wisdom, Aristotle 7. The Complication of Praxis, William McNeill 8. The Existential Self as Locus of Sustainability in Design, Philippe d’Anjou 9. Science of the Concrete, Claude Levi-Strauss 10. The Textility of MakingTim Ingold Guide to Further Reading PART 3: THE ETHOS OF DESIGN Introduction 11. Artefacts: the Making Sentient of the External World, Elaine Scarry 12. Ethics by Design or the Ethos of Things, Cameron Tonkinwise 13. Grievability, Judith Butler 14. The One for the Other Adrian Peperrzak 15. Ethics in the Making, Bodil Jönsson et al Guide to Further Reading PART 4: DESIGN AND THE OTHER Introduction 16. On Coloniality of Knowledge, Madina V. Tlostanova 17. The Enframing Gaze, Timothy Mitchell 18. The Violence of Humanitarian Design, Mahmoud Keshavarz 19. The Force of Form, the Effect of Genre, Francois Jullien 20. Why Not an Alphabet? Lothar Ledderose Guide to Further Reading Guide to Further Reading PART 5: BEING DESIGNED AND THINGS Introduction 21. The Thing, Martin Heidegger 22. Materialism is Not the Solution: On Matter, Form, and Mimesis Graham Harman 23. Is Design Finished? Dematerialisation and Changing Things, Cameron Tonkinwise 24. Beyond Affordance Michael May 25. Understanding, Ontology, Thrownness and Readiness-to-hand, Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores 26. Smart meters don’t make us any smarter Elizabeth Shove and Sarah Royston 27. Matter and Mattering or Why are Things "Us"? Clive Dilnot Guide to Further Reading PART 6: THE DESIGNING OF TECHNOLOGY Introduction 28. Technology: Instrumental Metaphor and Cybernetic System, Adrian Snodgrass 29. The Question Concerning Technology, Martin Heidegger 30. Technical Mentality, Simondon 31. The Finite Framework of Language, Michael Heim 32. ‘This System Does Not Produce Pleasure Anymore’ Bernard Stiegler Guide to Further Reading PART 7: THE DESIGNING OF VISUALITY Introduction 33. Form and Imitation Plato 34. The Plato Effect in Architecture Chistopher N. Henri 35. Age of the World Picture, Martin Heidegger 36. An Art Which Imitates Art Pierre Bourdieu 37. Sign Function and Class Logic Jean Baudrillard 38. Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space Guide to Further Reading PART 8: DESIGNING AFTER THE END Introduction 39. What is the Anthropolitical? Claire Colbrook 40. The Intrusion of GAIA Isobel Stengers 41. Cosmoecological Sheep Vinciane Despret and Michel Meuret 42. Outing Artificial Intelligence: Reckoning with Turing Tests Benjamin H. Bratton 43. The Posthuman Rosi Braidotti 44. The Sustainment Tony Fry 45. Spinoza and Us Gilles Deleuze Guide to Further Reading Bibliography Index