What Philosophy and Neuroscience can teach us about UX
Today, I want to talk about three things. The first is the philosophical discipline of phenomenology. The second is what that has to do with how we use tools, and hence, with how we should design tools. The third is that neuroscientist say that the philosophers already got it right like a hundred years ago. But first, let me take you to France. Paris, the city of love. In 1942. The city is under Nazi occupation. It’s night, long past the curfew, and outside SS patrols march down dark alleys with cobblestone streets. Inside, a man who would later become THE intellectual celebrity of post-war France together with his lifelong partner - think the Brangelina of the 50s - sat in front of a typewriter to work on the manuscript for his philosophical opus magnum “L’Être et le néant” - “Being and Nothingness”. Jean-Paul Sartre was a funny man. And not just because he had a disarmingly charming humour, but because he was actually funny looking. Most would actually describe him as plain ugly. He was short, ears sticking out, one eye pointing this way, one eye that way, he wore think glasses and was notoriously unkempt. Some people already knew him as a playwright - he brought us such memorable quotes like “Hell is the other people”. Allegedly he wrote most of his plays to give the many young actresses he dated something to do - apparently his wit and intellect were rather seductive. But that night, he was tired. As he was typing on the manuscript, he tried to focus on the ideas, the concepts, the world the words he was typing were creating. But then his eyes became sore and weary, and the letters started to blur. He noticed how his attention shifted from the concepts to the letters that carry them. And then soon to his tired fingers that created those letters. Finally he couldn’t think about anything but his sore eyes and had trouble keeping them open. Most ordinary people would just have decided to call it a night. But Sartre was anything but ordinary. He was a philosopher. Particularly, he was a phenomenologist. Phenomenology is the philosophical study of experiences, or more correctly, the study of structures of experiences. In a way, it’s a scientific discipline, a way of describing the world and theorising about it. But as opposed to physics or psychology, phenomenology is a first-person approach: you're analysing, deconstructing and describing your own experiences and consciousness. Phenomenologists don't study things for what they are, but for how they appear to us. Sartre, being a phenomenologist, was quick to notice a certain pattern in his experiences. He noticed how his attention shifts from one thing to another - the ideas, the words, his fingers, his eyes. What's interesting here is that his attention shifts from the subject of perception to the medium of perception. First he perceives the ideas through the words, then the typed words themselves become centre of his attention. Finally, his own eyes become th
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What Philosophy and Neuroscience can teach us about UX
- 1. NEUROSCIENCE PHILOSOPHY UXcan teach us about What and @maebert #UXPABOS15MANUEL EBERT
- 2. 1942Paris
- 4. L'Être et le Néant ANY study of human reality must begin with the cogito.
- 7. THING The HAMMER just a in OUTSIDE WORLDthe Present-at-hand: is
- 10. AFFORDANCES Let’s have a seat & talk about
- 11. Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993)
- 12. Far Cry 4 (2003)
- 19. USER The IN FRONT is NOTjust what’s of SCREENthe Auntie Miranda
- 20. This has to die.
- 24. Phenomenology rocks.1 Lets do more of that. What’s the User?2 Good question. Ask it more often. We’re cyborgs.3 Let’s make better upgrades.
- 26. References Sartre, J. P: Being And Nothingness (1943) Heidegger, M: Being And TIME (1927) Dreyfus, h: Being-in-the-world (1991) Gibson, J: The Theory of Affordances (1977 Iriki, A. & al: Tools For the Body(-Schema) (2004) Mentioned in the discussion: Asimov, I: The Secret sense (1941) [ notice a pattern there?]