Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Design: An Introduction
In this book you will find that the words inspiration, expression, imagination, intui tion, lavishly employed in most writings about the subject, are here used sparingly. In recent years these terms have come to acquire a sort of exotic ?avor, mystical overtones that have taken them out of everyday practice and thrown a veil of irrationality across the men tal processes involved. This is not the fault of the terms themselves. But it does suggest caution in their use, unless one wants to confuse the reader.
The terms I have chosen instead are idea, purpose, need, analysis, judgment. These words involve exactly the same processes of thought as the terms above which the general public now finds esoteric and obscure. But these words have not developed the fancy extra ?avor.
No one can analyze a problem by intellect alone, if by intellect one reads cold mentality without emotion. True analysis brings an imaginative feeling into the problem, which is, exactly, intuitive. Hunches, too, are often valuable, indicating an instinctive turning toward, or repulsion from, an idea, and they suggest a natural, temperamentally sound reao tion appropriate to the person who has the hunch. Your hunch won't help me much, how ever, in all likelihood.
So, too, with expression. The word has come to include a notion of license, of hang the-other-fellow, let me alone to express myself. Often the self thus expressed turns out to be pretty small potatoes, and few to the hill. But every invention, every solution to a problem, each choice among alternatives, is the true expression of a character meeting with specific circumstances.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
