Donald Schon, Herbert Simon and The Sciences of the Artificial

In this paper, I examine Schon's criticism of Herbert Simon's instrumentalist theory of design and conclude that Schon's evaluation of Simon's theory of design, based on the first edition of The Sciences or the Artificial, overlooks many open-ended constructivist trajectories. By exploring later editions of The Sciences or the Artificial, the hope is to correct the misconception that Simon's substantive theory of design had very little to contribute to research studies in designerly ways of knowing. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.