As mentioned before, I’ll be teaching a Metaphysics of Objects course at DePaul this coming fall as part of our new Industrial Design program. One of my projects this summer has been to put together relevant literature that supports the course as it’s framed: a class where making is central, and supported by the philosophical tenets of speculative realism. (sidenote: I am still looking for works to draw from, so if you have any suggestions, hit me up on Twitter)
Here are the works that are central to the course:
- Alien Phenomenology – Ian Bogost
- Object Oriented Ontology – Graham Harman
Selected readings:
- The Evolution of Useful Things – Henry Petroski
- Where the Action Is – Paul Dourish
- Speculative Realism – Graham Harman
- Entangled – Ian Hodder
- Making – Tim Ingold
The challenge now is to create course projects that guide students through the philosophy, helping them develop metaphorical frameworks for creating objects in practice.
