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To be sure, the very term "design" was not much in use in the French academic field until the 1980s. However, an important line of thought concerning design had already undergone considerable development in the 1950s under the name "industrial aesthetics." This chapter tries to follow this activity in France between 1951 and 1984 and the development of an original design theory rooted in French philosophies of art and technology. This movement was based on a non-Kantian aesthetics introduced by Paul and Etienne Souriau, acknowledging technology as a real issue for aesthetics. Then, it was also connected with a philosophy placing technology in relation to its living and social milieu (Mauss, Leroi-Gourhan, Friedmann, Simondon). It is along these lines that we analyse the development of the Institute of Industrial Aesthetics, created in 1951 by Jacques Viénot, relating the continuous dialog between this specific design theory and its philosophical backgrounds. Indeed, during this period, a design theory based on technology and its socio-cultural effects has been developed, leading to an ecology of technology.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-89518-5_21

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