Philosophy at Work
2,500 years of thinkers, applied to product design.
Philosophy has a reputation problem among practitioners. It sounds like something you study, not something you use. Abstract. Detached. The kind of thing that lives in books and lecture halls, not in product roadmaps.
We've found the opposite to be true. The hardest questions we face in product work — what's worth building, who gets to decide, why this feature and not another — are the same questions philosophers have been wrestling with for two and a half thousand years. They used different words. The questions are the same.
This series is an attempt to use the best of that work. Each essay takes one thinker and asks what their ideas mean for people who design products today. No academic rigor. Practical reflection. New entries are added as we write them.
In order
Essay 1
From Plato to Pixels
Explore how ancient philosophy can inform modern product design by diving into Plato's concept of ideal forms. Learn how to strive for perfection, balance aesthetics with functionality, and create meaningful user experiences by applying timeless philosophical insights to today's design challenges.
Essay 2
Cultivating Virtue in Design
Discover how Aristotle's virtue ethics can shape modern product design. Learn how to create products that encourage users to build good habits, find balance, and pursue long-term well-being. By applying Aristotle's philosophy of the golden mean, you can design products that promote personal growth, foster moderation, and contribute to meaningful, flourishing user experiences in today's digital world.
Essay 3
The Art of Disappearing Tech
How Heidegger's philosophy of 'being' can reshape the way we design digital experiences, pushing us to create technology that fades into the background and helps people live more authentically, rather than overwhelming them with distractions.
Essay 4
The Language Games of Design
Ludwig Wittgenstein argued that words get their meaning from how they're used, not from what they refer to. Apply that to design systems and suddenly the component naming fights, the token drift, and the one-designer systems all look like the same problem.
Digging deeper
Nicomachean Ethics — Aristotle
The primary text behind Cultivating Virtue. Project Gutenberg has it free.
The Republic — Plato
The context for the theory of Forms. Book VII (the Cave) is the one everyone references; Book X is where the Forms actually land.
Being and Time — Martin Heidegger
Dense but worth the effort. The distinction between ready-to-hand and present-at-hand is the single most useful idea in it for designers.
Philosophical Investigations — Ludwig Wittgenstein
A forthcoming entry in this series draws on this. Short paragraphs, dense reward.