On variational cross-examination: a method for postphenomenological multistability
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
On variational cross‑examination: a method for postphenomenological multistability Robert Rosenberger1 Received: 8 February 2020 / Accepted: 4 August 2020 © Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract How should we understand postphenomenological methodology? Postphenomenology is a research perspective which builds on phenomenological and pragmatist philosophy to explore human–technology relations, but one with open methodological questions. Here, I offer some thoughts on the epistemological processes that should be (and often implicitly may be) at work in this research. In particular, I am concerned with postphenomenological research on technological “multistability,” i.e., a device’s ever-present capacity to be used for a variety of purposes, and to always be meaningful in multiple ways. I develop a methodology called “variational cross-examination,” which entails the critical contrast of a device’s various stabilities. As a set of instructive examples, I draw on my own line of research on the politics of public spaces, and especially the critique of anti-homeless design. Keywords Multistability · Ihde · Postphenomenology · Philosophy of technology · Homelessness · Design · Hostile design
1 Introduction Back in 2017, the city of Seattle installed eighteen bicycle racks, tightly spaced, under an overpass. But the purpose of the racks—simple metal arches attached to the ground— was not primarily for providing a place to lock up a bike. As Heidi Groover reports, “The city installed the racks in September after officials conducted a homeless encampment sweep in the area. SDOT considered the racks ‘part of the Homelessness Emergency Response effort’ and they were meant to discourage camping” (2017). The space under the overpass was being used by people living unhoused. The overpass provided some protection from the elements, and thus served as a good place to put up a tent. In an effort to drive out these unhoused campers from this space, the bike racks were installed in such a way to obstruct the ability to camp there. They were effective in this function. Looking at this example through the lens of the fields of philosophy of technology and Science and Technology Studies, one thing that jumps forward is the way these events turn upon the usage of technologies for purposes other than
* Robert Rosenberger [email protected] 1
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
those for which they were designed. The overpass is used as a form of shelter. It provides part of a living space. The bike racks are then installed as a disruption to the use of that space for camping. This raises questions about the roles of the materiality of objects in contributing to how they may be used, changed, and developed. If technologies exist as not only “for” the purpose for which they were designed, but also as things that are potentially meaningful in other ways, then we cannot conceive of them in merely instrumental terms. And if they are taken up as a part of
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