Aesthetics and Design: The Value of Everyday Living

by Jeffrey Petts, Derek Matravers (Editor)

Overview

What designers do and how we all, as users of designed things, live with their products raises fundamental philosophical questions about how we should live, and how the nature of design work and good design relates to our lives.

Jeffrey Petts presents a holistic and pragmatist approach to the philosophy of design. Acknowledging the importance of function in design without downplaying the aesthetic dimension, Petts relates the manner of evaluating design to the designing process itself as demonstrated in the work of, for example, William Morris, Walter Gropius and Bauhaus, Charles and Ray Eames, and Dieter Rams. This metacritical and everyday approach to the philosophy of design expresses a commitment to real aesthetics, connecting concrete issues in both practice and experience to philosophical ideas, and reveals the role aesthetics plays in considerations about the good life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350213036
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/30/2023
Series:	Bloomsbury Aesthetics
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.45(w) x 8.45(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Jeffrey Petts is an independent scholar based in London, UK. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of York and has published in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Journal of Aesthetic Education, and British Journal of Aesthetics.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Introduction

Part I. Design and Philosophy
1. Design from Philosophical Perspectives
2. Aesthetic Functionalism about Design
3. Design and Aesthetics of the Everyday

Part II. Design Work
4. The Personal Experience of Designed Things
5. The Beauty of Life: Design and Everyday Living
6. Designing Communities and the Good Life

Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This informative and probing study serves as both a sure-footed guide to the philosophy of design and an original contribution to its debates not least through the focus given to the role of design-artefact or environment-in everyday life and in human flourishing. Illuminating and pleasantly readable.” —Peter Lamarque, Professor of Philosophy, University of York, UK

“This book is poised to become a mainstay in the emerging and much needed field of the philosophy of design. As such it will serve both scholars and practitioners alike.” —Pradeep A. Dhillon, Emerita Associate Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois, USA

“Petts reviews design activities and products seriously by examining their fundamentals through philosophical thoughts, and sees how some designers have applied ethical and ecological concerns in their exemplary work. His book is superb and inspiring in addressing how apology statements made by contemporary designers can be conceived for our better living.” —Eva Kit Wah Man, Chair Professor of Humanities, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong

“Through critically analyzing a rich array of examples, Petts argues that design is fundamentally an aesthetic matter informed by people's experience of living with objects and environments, rather than simply fulfilling basic needs and functionality. The book establishes a new direction of exploration for both aesthetics and design studies.” —Yuriko Saito, Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Rhode Island School of Design, USA

From the Publisher