The World of Ideas as a Way to Focus a Design Episteme

Abstract

The subject of the study is a design episteme - a system of logical connections and ways of forming concepts within a semiotic design system. The design episteme is considered in dynamics: currently, a logical impasse is being outlined in design, inspired by the ideology of modernism. The ideology of modernism in its logical development leads the semiotic system of design to the use of signs-simulacra, which, in turn, leads to the practice of design to the end. The way out of this situation may be a turn in the development of the design episteme to a fundamentally different pole of thinking. The author uses the method of semiotic analysis, which allows to identify the main type of signs that is used in the modern design episteme. In addition, the methodological basis of the study is Plato's concept of the world of ideas as applied to modern design. Examples of aesthetic relativism in modern design are given as the body of the material, these examples explicate the defocusing of the design episteme. The main conclusion of the study is that the modern design episteme is in a logical impasse due to the use of a fourth-order simulacrum as the main sign form. A fourth–order simulacrum is a sign that not only does not refer to an internal referent, but also whose external form tends to zero. Such a sign does not imply the existence of design as a principle of organization and design of the interaction of the signifier and the signified in the sign. The design episteme, which does not imply design, is in a state of defocusing. The way to reassemble the design episteme is to switch to a different paradigm. From the materialistic and horizontally oriented paradigm of modernism, the design episteme should move into a vertically oriented paradigm. The basis for building thinking in the field of design in a vertically oriented system is Plato's concept of the world of ideas.