Key Thinkers & Their Core Ideas
Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995)
French philosopher · Post-structuralism · Philosophy of difference
Core Philosophy: Deleuze developed a philosophy of pure difference and becoming, rejecting identity and representation as foundations for thought. He argued that reality is composed of flows, intensities, and multiplicities rather than stable objects and subjects. His concepts—the Body without Organs, rhizomes, deterritorialization—challenge hierarchical thinking and fixed categories.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: Deleuze helps us think about sensation before perception, about designing for intensities rather than just functions, and about creating non-hierarchical systems that resist organization.
Essential Works
- Difference and Repetition (1968) – His major philosophical work on difference as primary
- The Logic of Sense (1969) – On events, becoming, and the surface/depth distinction
- Anti-Oedipus (1972, with Félix Guattari) – Introduction of the Body without Organs concept
- A Thousand Plateaus (1980, with Guattari) – Rhizomes, stratification, affects, and becomings
- Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation (1981) – On painting, sensation, and the nervous system
Accessible Entry Points
- Documentary: "Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze" (1996) – 8-hour interview covering A-Z topics, casual and illuminating
- Secondary Text: Claire Colebrook's "Gilles Deleuze" (2002) – Clear introduction to his key concepts
- Applied: Brian Massumi's "Parables for the Virtual" (2002) – Deleuze applied to affect, movement, and sensation
Francisco Varela (1946-2001) & Humberto Maturana (1928-2021)
Chilean biologists · Cognitive science · Enactivism
Core Philosophy: Varela and Maturana developed the theory of enactivism: cognition arises through a living being's interactions with its environment, not through representation or computation. They introduced "autopoiesis" (self-production) to explain how living systems create and maintain themselves. Cognition is not about processing information—it's about bringing forth a world through action.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: The foundation of the 4E framework. Interaction isn't about transmitting information to passive users—it's about creating conditions for meaning-making through action. Design creates environments for enaction, not just interfaces for perception.
Essential Works
- Autopoiesis and Cognition (1980, Maturana & Varela) – Foundational text on self-organizing systems
- The Tree of Knowledge (1987, Maturana & Varela) – Accessible introduction to their biological approach to cognition
- The Embodied Mind (1991, Varela, Thompson, Rosch) – Brings together cognitive science, phenomenology, and Buddhism
- The View from Within (1999, Varela & Shear, eds.) – On first-person approaches to consciousness
Paul Dourish (1966-)
Computer scientist · HCI researcher · Embodied interaction
Core Philosophy: Dourish brought phenomenology and embodied cognition directly into HCI research. He argues that meaning in interaction arises through use, not through representation. Systems don't just present information—they create opportunities for meaningful engagement where significance emerges through practice.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: The bridge between philosophy (phenomenology, enactivism) and practical interaction design. Shows how embodied cognition changes what we design and how we evaluate it.
Essential Works
- Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction (2001) – THE foundational text for embodied interaction design
- The Stuff of Bits (2017) – On materiality in digital systems
- Various papers on tangible computing, ubiquitous computing, and social computing
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961)
French philosopher · Phenomenology · Perception
Core Philosophy: Merleau-Ponty argued that perception is not a mental process happening inside the brain, but an embodied engagement with the world. The body is not an object we have—it's how we experience and understand everything. Consciousness is always embodied, always situated, always directed toward a world it's inseparable from.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: Understanding perception as bodily participation, not just visual processing. The concept of the "body schema"—how tools can become extensions of embodied cognition—directly informs thinking about interfaces as prosthetics.
Essential Works
- Phenomenology of Perception (1945) – Major work on embodied perception
- The Visible and the Invisible (1964, posthumous) – On flesh, reversibility, and intertwining
- Eye and Mind (1961) – Short essay on painting and perception, very accessible
Secondary Resources
- Taylor Carman's "Merleau-Ponty" (2008) – Clear introduction in the Routledge Philosophers series
- Documentary: "Merleau-Ponty et le visible" (2003) – French documentary with English subtitles
Alva Noë (1964-)
American philosopher · Cognitive science · Perception theory
Core Philosophy: Noë argues that perception is not something that happens to us—it's something we do. Seeing is a mode of exploration that uses implicit knowledge of sensorimotor contingencies. Consciousness is not in the head—it's enacted through dynamic engagement with the environment.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: Reframes perception as active exploration. Interfaces aren't just displays to be perceived—they're environments to be actively explored through sensorimotor engagement.
Essential Works
- Action in Perception (2004) – Major work on enactive perception
- Out of Our Heads (2009) – Accessible critique of brain-bound consciousness
- Varieties of Presence (2012) – On art, perception, and understanding
Andy Clark (1957-)
British philosopher · Extended mind · Predictive processing
Core Philosophy: Clark developed the extended mind thesis with David Chalmers: cognition isn't bounded by the skull. Tools, notebooks, smartphones—these aren't just external aids, they're parts of our cognitive system. The mind is what the brain does when coupled with body, tools, and environment.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: Interfaces aren't external to cognition—they're constitutive of it. When we design tools, we're designing parts of people's cognitive architecture.
Essential Works
- Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again (1997) – Embodied and extended cognition
- Natural-Born Cyborgs (2003) – On technology as cognitive extension
- Supersizing the Mind (2008) – Extended cognition in depth
- "The Extended Mind" paper (1998, with David Chalmers) – The famous original argument
Don Norman (1935-)
Cognitive scientist · Design theorist · Usability pioneer
Core Philosophy: Norman brought cognitive science to design practice. His concepts—affordances, signifiers, conceptual models, feedback—created a vocabulary for thinking about how people understand and use things. Later work emphasizes emotional design and the complexity of real-world systems.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: The practical foundation. While other thinkers provide philosophical grounding, Norman provides concepts directly applicable to design practice.
Essential Works
- The Design of Everyday Things (1988, revised 2013) – Foundational for interaction design
- Emotional Design (2004) – Beyond usability to affect and meaning
- Living with Complexity (2010) – Embracing rather than eliminating complexity
- The Design of Future Things (2007) – On automation and human-machine interaction
James J. Gibson (1904-1979)
American psychologist · Ecological psychology · Affordance theory
Core Philosophy: Gibson developed ecological psychology: perception is direct, not mediated by mental representations. Animals (including humans) perceive affordances—possibilities for action that the environment offers. Perception evolved not to create accurate internal models, but to guide action in the world.
Why It Matters for Interaction Design: The concept of affordances (though often simplified in design discourse). Understanding perception as picking up information for action, not constructing representations.
Essential Works
- The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1979) – His major theoretical work
- The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (1966) – Earlier work developing the foundation
Secondary Resources
- Harry Heft's "Ecological Psychology in Context" (2001) – Situates Gibson in history of psychology
Foundational Texts by Topic
4E Cognition (Embodied, Embedded, Enactive, Extended)
- Varela, Thompson, & Rosch - The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (1991)
- Andy Clark & David Chalmers - "The Extended Mind" (1998) [Paper]
- Alva Noë - Action in Perception (2004)
- Shaun Gallagher - How the Body Shapes the Mind (2005)
- Mark Rowlands - The New Science of the Mind: From Extended Mind to Embodied Phenomenology (2010)
- Lawrence Shapiro - Embodied Cognition (2010) – Good overview of the field
Embodied Interaction Design
- Paul Dourish - Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction (2001)
- Caroline Hummels & Kees Overbeeke - "Special Issue on Movement-Based Interaction" Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (2010)
- Kristina Höök et al. - "Somaesthetic Design" Interactions (2015) [Paper]
- Sarah Fdili Alaoui - "Making an Interactive Dance Piece: Tensions in Integrating Technology in Art" (2019)
Phenomenology & Philosophy
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty - Phenomenology of Perception (1945)
- Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari - A Thousand Plateaus (1980) – Especially plateau 6: "How Do You Make Yourself a Body without Organs?"
- Gilles Deleuze - Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation (1981)
- Brian Massumi - Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation (2002)
- Maxine Sheets-Johnstone - The Primacy of Movement (2011)
Poetics & Aesthetics of Interaction
- William Gaver et al. - "Cultural Probes and the Value of Uncertainty" Interactions (2004)
- Phoebe Sengers & Bill Gaver - "Staying Open to Interpretation: Engaging Multiple Meanings in Design and Evaluation" (2006)
- John McCarthy & Peter Wright - Technology as Experience (2004)
- Anna Munster - An Aesthesia of Networks: Conjunctive Experience in Art and Technology (2013)
Alternative Controllers & Game Design
- Bianchi-Berthouze et al. - "Does Body Movement Engage You More in Digital Game Play?" ACII (2007)
- Florian 'Floyd' Mueller & Katherine Isbister - Movement-Based Game Guidelines (2014)
- Brendan Keogh - A Play of Bodies: How We Perceive Videogames (2018)
- AltCtrl.GDC Archive - Annual showcase of alternative game controllers
Indian Context: Gesture, Dance, Embodied Knowledge
- Kapila Vatsyayan - The Square and the Circle of the Indian Arts (1983)
- Ananda Coomaraswamy - The Mirror of Gesture: Being the Abhinaya Darpana of Nandikesvara (1917/1997)
- Alessandra Lopez y Royo - "Classicism, Corporeality and Consciousness in Indian Dance Traditions" (2003)
- Pallavi Swaranjali - "Mudras: The Cultural-Semiotic Significance of Hand Gestures in Indian Classical Dance" (2016)
Key Research Papers
Seminal HCI Papers on Embodiment
- Hiroshi Ishii & Brygg Ullmer - "Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms" CHI 1997
- Paul Dourish - "Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction" 2001 (also a book)
- Caroline Hummels, Kees Overbeeke & Gert Pasman - "Move to get moved: a search for methods, tools and knowledge to design for expressive and rich movement-based interaction" 2007
- Kristina Höök - "Knowing, Communicating, and Experiencing through Body and Emotion" ACM Transactions on CHI 2008
- Thecla Schiphorst - "Self-evidence: applying somatic connoisseurship to experience design" CHI 2011
Documentaries on Philosophy
- Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze (1996) – 8-hour conversational interview with Deleuze, A-Z format
- Examined Life (2008) – Features philosophers walking and talking (includes Judith Butler, Cornel West, others)
- Derrida (2002) – Documentary following Jacques Derrida
Films on Perception & Body
- Koyaanisqatsi (1982, Godfrey Reggio) – Wordless film on relationship between humans, nature, technology
- Leviathan (2012, Castaing-Taylor & Paravel) – Experimental documentary using GoPros on fishing boat, radical embodied POV
- Wavelength (1967, Michael Snow) – 45-minute slow zoom challenging perception of space and time
Documentaries on Indian Classical Dance
- Dance Like a Man (2004) – On gender and Bharatanatyam
- The Other Song (2009, Saba Dewan) – On devadasis and dance as resistance
- Chandralekha: Woman/Dance/Resistance (1999) – On the revolutionary choreographer
Online Resources & Archives
- AltCtrl.GDC (archive.org/details/altctrl-archive) – Alternative game controller showcase archives
- Rhizome (rhizome.org) – Digital art and new media art archive and organization
- V&A Museum: Rapid Response Collecting – Collection including interaction design objects
- Internet Archive Scholar (scholar.archive.org) – Access to academic papers and books
Note: This is a living document. The field of embodied interaction is actively evolving, with new research, artworks, and theoretical developments constantly emerging. Treat this as a starting point for exploration, not an exhaustive catalog.