Elemental Reductionism (Descartes)

Design can be understood as the process of rearranging elements to improve their overall functionality. This functionalist, organic theory developed alongside a particular strain of mechanistic thought. The underlying assumption is that complex situations can be broken down into simple elements, and by appropriately combining these elements, we can fully understand and reproduce the situation at hand. This philosophical stance is known as elemental reductionism, and it is generally traced back to the 17th-century philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650).

In his Discourse on Method (1637), Descartes outlined four rules for acquiring certain knowledge. The first is the rule of “clarity and distinctness.” Clarity refers to an object being clearly present in consciousness — like the pen in front of me — leaving no room for doubt about its presence. Distinctness means that an element appears in consciousness independently, uninfluenced by other elements. Such clarity and distinctness cannot be achieved through secondhand knowledge or hearsay, but only through direct perception.

How, then, can we achieve that kind of presence mentioned above? For this, Descartes offers his second rule: “division.” Because it is impossible to grasp a complex object all at once, he argues that we must divide it into parts as much as possible until no difficulties remain. Clarity requires separating the subject of cognition from interactions with others, while distinctness requires isolating the object of cognition from its connections with other objects. Through this act of division, a simple element and a simple consciousness confront each other in an ideal, fundamental opposition. This relationship forms the basis of all cognition.

Descartes’ third rule is “order.” Once an object has been reduced to its simplest elements, those elements become independent and lose their mutual relationships. Thus, to reconstruct the original object, the mind must assume an “order” among the elements. This reconstruction proceeds step by step, beginning with the simplest elements and moving toward greater complexity.

The fourth rule is “enumeration,” a final review process in which we check, one by one, that all elements have been accounted for and properly processed.

Descartes’ four rules can be seen as proposing a new method of constructing knowledge based on empirical verification rather than tradition or authority.　Descartes sought to reduce the complex world to its basic elements and reassemble them in a linear (one-dimensional) fashion — like beads on a string — transforming the world into text. He envisioned text as a transparent medium through which the world and consciousness perfectly correspond.

This transparency is evident in his Geometry (1637), where he introduced a coordinate space to represent geometric figures algebraically. This Cartesian space, composed of linear orders, makes it possible to clearly and precisely define elements as points and to calculate their relationships to consciousness.　For Descartes, only “things” that can be precisely expressed in this coordinate space are real entities, and this spatiality is supported by another real entity: “mind.” This view underpins his dualism of mind and body.

Descartes’ reductionism articulated the philosophical foundations of the scientific revolution in the 17th century. In this context, academic knowledge was no longer the privilege of a select few, but something attainable by anyone with common sense who followed simple rules of cognition.

By the 19th century, Descartes’ “four rules” were applied to industrial production: drafting and identifying parts that a product consists of, assembling them on lines, and completing the product. By precisely combining copied parts in a specific sequence and inspecting them afterward, even highly complex products like automobiles could be reproduced by workers with ordinary intelligence and rationality.

Design, which began in the Renaissance as disegno — the rational depiction of works — became tied to positivist science by the 20th century. This allowed for precise recognition of problems and their contexts, the designing of detailed plans, and scientific evaluation of product performance. Descartes’ elemental reductionism became the foundation of a public sphere that enabled 20th-century industrial design and the agency of “ordinary” people who participated in it.

(KOGA Toru, English proofread by Leon LOH)