A Series
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.
I've found the opposite to be true. The hardest questions I 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 I 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.
5 min read
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.
5 min read
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.
5 min read
More essays added as I write them. Subscribe below to hear when new entries land.
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A quiet list. Philosophy essays and occasional notes on the workshops we run. No weekly digest, no spam.
Primary sources, if you want to go 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.
For teams
Philosophical Foundations, as a workshop
These ideas work as essays. They work better as a room of product leaders actually debating them against their own product. That's what the Philosophical Foundations workshop is for — a full-day, on-site session that turns the philosophical frames into decisions your team can use.
Learn more about the workshop →