Five axes towards a philosophy of design

Abstract

This article offers some contributions for the structuring of a philosophy of design. It delineates five reflexive axis that could form the core of this discipline. Thinking about the structure of a philosophy of design in terms of axis opens up the possibility of leaving behind closed definitions of design. Each axis approaches the subject “design” from a different angle: In the first axis, the design is seen as a carrier of meaning; in the second, as a carrier of affects; in the third, as a means of dealing with new technologies and with the new ways of “being in the world” they bring forward; in the fourth, as a constitutive part of cultures defined by the centrality of media and consumption; in the fifth, as a specific way of thinking, knowing and articulating “modes of being”.