Darwin Muljono
This paper proposes a critical realist meta-theory for researchers or practitioners as a contributing framework for researching complex systems. Critical realism takes the philosophical positions of ontological realism, epistemological relativism, and judgmental rationality. As critical realist philosophy pushes beyond Humean causality and Kantian transcendental idealist mode of inquiry towards the framing of the question, “What does the structure of the world have to be like for knowledge production to be possible?” so too must inquiry in design push the limits of systemic design research and practice. Ultimately, this writing aims to clarify how critical realist theory has much to contribute to design research because its framework and methodology help us think about how we can understand people’s experiences in complex systems and structural contexts. As a meta-theoretical tool in investigating systems thinking, critical realism is especially useful not only for researching the social but also for pushing the critique of the design disciplines into the realm of political-economic systems. Critical realism’s utility in systemic design research can be used for structural and socio-cultural analysis to surface contradictions. That is the contradiction that emerges from the inherent logic of the system itself. This paper will also introduce the methods relevant to critical realism: retroduction and ecotone. Critical realism is a robust methodological strategy for practitioners and researchers to aid them in complex systems research.
KEYWORDS: critical realism, complex systems, design research, philosophy of science, ecotones, retroduction