ABSTRACT
Arguing for a fundamental shift in the way we think about how we perceive, this chapter traces the contentious nature of design research directly back to the dichotomy between body and mind. To propose that research in design should not really be any different from research in any other discipline is not to suggest that design research is just another form of problem-solving or information-processing. It does tell us, however, that ground breaking research in or through design is absolutely achievable, and that it can be critical, rigorous, and brilliant in idiosyncratic, freewheeling ways. The point is that research in design does not necessarily have to be scientific, and neither does it need to be based on rationalist views about the nature of intelligence, emotions, facts, and values.
This chapter outlines a central premise that fundamentally redefines the relationship between the senses and intelligence, and that has far-reaching consequences for our understanding of language, intelligence, meaning, the senses and subjectivity. A pragmatic and holistic approach to consciousness is used to re-evaluate some of the assumptions underlying practice-based research inquiry and research through design. Set here within the context of landscape architecture, it also has implications for other art and design disciplines, architecture, philosophy, aesthetics and education more generally.
