Ethics by Design, or the Ethos of Things

Podcast

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Is Design Finished? Dematerialisation and Changing Things

Central Problem

Why do things accumulate unsustainably in our households, and why do sophisticated technical products end up as junk so quickly? Tonkinwise argues that neither consumerism nor instrumentalism adequately explains the paradox of “disposable durables”—products made of long-lasting materials yet designed for short use-lives. Drawing on Heidegger’s analysis of thingliness (mathēmata), phusis vs technē, and entelecheia, Tonkinwise shows that the problem lies in the mathematics of things: modern making produces “finished” objects that deny their temporality, their being-in-time. The result is things that accumulate and flow without anyone caring for them. The question then becomes: can design produce unfinished things—things that remain in motion, capable of repair and alteration?

Main Thesis

The unsustainability of our material culture stems from the ontology of making itself. Modern technē produces things as finished ends—complete, static, out-of-time objects. This “finishedness” paradoxically leads to disposability: because products are cast as unchanging, they become mere “stuff” alienated from their production, unable to be sustained or cared for. By contrast, Ancient Greek phusis understood things as always in motion, never complete yet always complete-as-what-they-are (entelecheia: “holding itself in its end”). Tonkinwise proposes that sustainable design must shift from producing finished objects to designing things-in-motion: products that can change over time through repair, maintenance, and alteration. This is not quality design (timeless perfection) but imperfect design—“product-plus-process” that takes responsibility for sustaining things through time.

Historical Context and Intellectual Background

Tonkinwise writes amid two converging discourses:

1. Sustainability research: Product-service systems (PSS) were emerging as strategies for dematerialization—delivering functional results with fewer material inputs. Researchers like Ezio Manzini and Walter Stahel promoted “use-oriented” and “result-oriented” services.

2. Consumption sociology: Moving beyond crude “consumerism” stereotypes, scholars like Elizabeth Shove were analyzing everyday practices (cleaning, cooking, commuting) that structure our relations with things, drawing on actor-network theory and phenomenology.

Tonkinwise argues both approaches remain incomplete without engaging Heidegger’s deeper analysis of thingliness. Previous calls for product-life extension (Werkbund, Vance Packard, EternallyYours) still aimed at perfect things. The Heideggerian brief is different: design imperfect things that must be continuously improved.

Key intellectual sources:

• Heidegger’s 1935-6 lectures (The Question Concerning the Thing): The shift from Greek qualitative mathēmata to modern quantitative mathematics
• Heidegger’s 1939 essay on Aristotle’s Physics B1: Phusis as movedness, entelecheia as “holding itself in its end”
• Vilém Flusser: Objects as obstacles; design and temporality
• Hannah Arendt: Durability and the human artifice

Philosophical Lineage

flowchart TD
    Aristotle --> |Phusis, entelecheia| Heidegger
    Heidegger --> |Thingliness, technē| Tonkinwise
    Heidegger --> |Question Concerning Technology| Tonkinwise
    Flusser --> |Design and temporality| Tonkinwise
    Arendt --> |Homo faber, durability| Tonkinwise
    Manzini --> |Sustainability, PSS| Tonkinwise
    Shove --> |Practice theory| Tonkinwise
    Tonkinwise --> |Imperfect design| SustainableDesign[Sustainable Design]

    class Aristotle,Heidegger,Tonkinwise,Flusser,Arendt,Manzini,Shove internal-link;

Key Thinkers

Thinker	Dates	Movement	Main Work	Core Concept
Heidegger	1889-1976	Phenomenology	The Question Concerning the Thing	Mathēmata, phusis vs technē, entelecheia
Arendt	1906-1975	Political Philosophy	The Human Condition	Homo faber, durability, work vs labor
Flusser	1920-1991	Media Philosophy	The Shape of Things	Design as obstacle, temporality
Manzini	1945-	Design for Sustainability	Prometheus of the Everyday	Dematerialization paradox, PSS
Moles	1920-1992	Information Theory	The Comprehensive Guarantee	Maintenance mentality

Key Concepts

Concept	Definition	Related to
Mathēmata	”Things insofar as we learn them”—the fore-understanding by which things come to be the things we experience	Heidegger, Phenomenology
Phusis	Greek “nature” as movedness: things always in motion, never finished yet always what they aim to be	Aristotle, Heidegger
Technē	Making that produces finished, static products alienated from time	Heidegger, Poiesis
Entelecheia	”Holding itself in its end”—being at every moment what one aims to be, without being complete	Aristotle, Heidegger
Disposable durable	Paradoxical modern product: made of lasting materials, designed for short use-life	Tonkinwise, Sustainability
Product-plus	Product plus a process that sustains it through time; design that takes responsibility for temporality	Tonkinwise, PSS
Finishedness	The quality of made things as complete, static, out-of-time—leading to neglect and disposal	Tonkinwise, Technē

Authors Comparison

Theme	Tonkinwise	Heidegger	Manzini
Problem diagnosis	Ontology of making produces finished things	Technology enframes beings as standing-reserve	Lack of design culture leads to worthless products
Key concept	Disposable durables, finishedness	Gestell, present-at-hand	Material intensity, dematerialization
Solution	Design things-in-motion, product-plus	Gelassenheit, letting-be	Product-service systems
Temporality	Things must be actively sustained through time	Being is always temporal, in-time	Shift from production to reproduction culture
Role of design	Must change fundamentally or “finish”	Technē as mode of revealing	Extend designer competence to services

Influences & Connections

Predecessors

• Aristotle: Phusis as movedness, entelecheia, distinction from technē
• Heidegger: Thingliness, mathematics of things, critique of technology
• Arendt: Homo faber, work vs labor, durability of human artifice

Contemporaries

• Manzini: Sustainability, dematerialization paradox
• Shove: Practice theory, comfort/cleanliness/convenience
• Stahel: Product-life extension, utilization-focused service economy

Successors

• Sustainable Design: Product-service systems, circular economy
• Repair Studies: Right to repair, maintenance as practice
• Design Philosophy: Ontological design, thing theory

Summary Formulas

1. The Paradox of Disposable Durables: Products made of durable materials + designed as finished = things treated as disposable → accumulation and throughput.

2. Phusis vs Technē: Phusis = things always in motion, never finished; Technē = making that produces finished, static products denying their temporality.

3. Entelecheia: A tree is at every moment complete-as-tree even while never completed; a table is not-a-table until finished, then merely present.

4. The Mathematics of Finishedness: Production erases itself in its outcome → finished products lose their having-been-produced-ness → reified as sheer stuff → neglected, disposed, accumulated.

5. The Heideggerian Brief: Design imperfect products that must be continuously improved—things in motion, capable of repair and alteration. Not quality design (timeless perfection) but product-plus-process.

Timeline

Year	Event
1927	Heidegger publishes Being and Time (ready-to-hand/present-at-hand)
1935-6	Heidegger delivers lectures on The Question Concerning the Thing
1939	Heidegger’s essay on Aristotle’s Physics B1 (phusis, entelecheia)
1954	Heidegger publishes “The Question Concerning Technology”
1958	Arendt publishes The Human Condition
1961	Packard publishes The Waste Makers (planned obsolescence)
1985	Moles proposes “The Comprehensive Guarantee”
1995	Manzini publishes “Prometheus of the Everyday”
1999	Flusser’s The Shape of Things published in English
2003	Shove publishes Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience
2004	Tonkinwise publishes “Is Design Finished?”

Notable Quotes

“Consumerism emerges as a fundamental inability to sustain things. It is a refusal to acknowledge that artificial things remain natural to the extent that they are within time, aging.” — Tonkinwise

“Design timely things, things that can last longer by being able to change over time. Design things that are not finished, things that can keep on by keeping on being repaired and altered, things in motion.” — Tonkinwise

“The more involved we are with the immaterial, the more material things accumulate as junk about us.” — Manzini, paraphrased by Tonkinwise

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Warning

This annotation was normalised using a large language model and may contain inaccuracies. These texts serve as preliminary study resources rather than exhaustive references.