New Dawkins show
Richard Dawkins has made a new show called Enemies of Reason. The second issue was aired on ABC Compass religious show last night. I discussed it briefly with Laurene (my supervisor) this morning.
He is attacking the alternative, mystical, metaphysical and anything that could be seen as non-rational, anti-science or in the least bit fluffy. I was thinking that Design as a field is an excellent field for the debate of these ideas to take place. Dawkins comes from a strict positivist modality, and design is a place where the positivist and metaphysical meet head-on and the debate still goes on strong, particularly in the design research area as we discuss 'what is (valid) research?'
Dawkins is, as Laurene remarks, a fundamentalist for the 'church of science'. A zealot, you wonder how he might deal with the unknown...
Dawkins knows what research is; 'show me your double-blind repeatable experiments!'... 'where's your control?'... as we now know, his positivist stance doesn't reveal all that design has to offer, so where do we go? Into practice-led research? and how do we find common ground with this discourse, or is it in design that a common ground, and a space for discussion, exists...