Critical Theory

Design is thought to be something that improves human life and society. However, in the light of global issues such as global environmental problems, widening disparities, capitalism and consumption, and the devastation of humanity, it seems that design, while purporting to provide benefits, is helping and even accelerating the current state of society, which as a whole is heading toward destruction. This critical consciousness is pushing today’s design itself into a critical situation.

The adjective “critical,” originating from the Greek kritikos, means to be able to judge in the light of something, and in that sense, to be able to criticize or critique. In modern usage, the adjective has the added meaning of serious or grave, in the sense that one’s position is endangered by exposure to criticism.

At the root of critical and crisis consciousness in design is skepticism about positivism, which has supported the knowledge and practice of design. Positivism (→ New Positivism) is a philosophical position that asserts that the truthfulness of ideas and theories can be judged on the basis of whether they are consistent with reality (data from experiments and surveys). Positivism in design refers to the idea that the validity of a plan, design, or concept can be evaluated on the basis of whether it correctly reflects reality and to what extent it actually solves various problems in reality. When the scientific nature of design is led by this positivism, the judgment of its validity depends on data in already established frameworks and tends to lose imagination beyond them. Consequently, a tragic situation arises in which we are so focused on solving the problem at hand that we lose sight of the human challenge as a whole.

The philosophical basis for this kind of design criticism is the “critical theory” of the Frankfurt School in 20th-century Germany. According to Max Horkheimer, one of the founders of the school, conventional natural and social sciences take reality as it is and try to provide a universal and unified explanation for it. The discovery of laws in the natural sciences is a typical example, and this way of theorizing is called “traditional theory.” In contrast, Horkheimer’s critical theory claims that the givenness of reality (data) is itself created by the influence of a false reality and that the very reality that conditions the givenness is clarified and criticized through the imagination of the theory. In the interest of critical theory to liberate human beings from the false reality, the data of reality is not the basis of truth, but the value of the given itself is relativized and reevaluated.

Horkheimer’s colleague, Theodor Adorno, in his article “Functionalism Today,” states that modern design has been dedicated to eliminating ornamentation and achieving maximum effect with minimum resources. However, Adorno criticizes this way of design as being deeply connected to the interests of the dominant powers, such as Protestant asceticism, industrialization, and capitalism. These interests, Adorno says, lead designers to look at nature and people only in terms of function and to exclude from their designs the “extras” that reflect on the efficiency and functionality of the product itself. Consequently, the data, theories, and designs based on them amplify the dominant values of the current society, and the style of functionalism has degenerated into an ornament of the modern power structure. Adorno, conversely, tries to see the rich potential of design in imaginative “fantasy” that makes use of the “extra.”

This trend of critical theory has its origins in Hegel, Marx, and Lukács, and was furthered by Horkheimer, Adorno, Benjamin, and Habermas, the second generation of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research. In the United Kingdom and United States, it has been linked to contemporary critical thinking such as cultural studies, postcolonialism, second-wave feminism, and new historicism. It is a theoretical background that supports anti-design, alternative design, speculative design, ecological design, and so on, and continues to have a major influence on design practice.

(KOGA Toru)

Related Classes

Design Futures Course, Philosophy of Design

References

• Adorno(1965), Funktionalismus Heute, in: Ohne Leitbild, Gesammtliche Schriften 10.
• Adorno, Horkheimer(1947:2007), Dialektik der Aufklärung, Fischer.
• Max Horkheimer(1937:1992), Traditionelle und kritische Theorie: Fünf Aufsätze, Fischer.