ABSTRACT

This chapter considers design values that are congruent with age-old understandings of human meaning as well as with contemporary notions of sustainability. A critique of naturalistic materialism and its relationship to un-sustainable interpretations of progress and growth is followed by a consideration of practical, social and personal meaning and their relationship to human values. A basis for meaningful values emerges for ethical judgment and product design decision-making. The result is an understanding of design and production that aligns more closely with sustainable principles and with deeper understandings of human flourishing.