Re: Researching "Wicked Problems" LO2420 - Citation & Comment

Lynn A Casmier-paz (lacst20+@pitt.edu)
Tue, 15 Aug 1995 21:48:01 -0400 (EDT)

Replying to LO2406 --

On Mon, 14 Aug 1995 Nickols@aol.com wrote:

> I don't believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny, and
> I also don't believe in "Wicked Problems."
>
> It strikes me that solving problems hinges first on defining the results
> to be achieved (i.e., specifying the so-called "solved state"), and second
> on identifying the structure of the problem situation (i.e., the set of
> variables, their connections, and relationships that must be manipulated
> so as to bring about the desired results). Failure to do either of these
> will certainly result in "wicked problems."
>
> I hope everyone finds this useful, even if not to their liking.

Based on the logic that I see underlying your comment--what I would call
hard pragmatism--I have to question the 'usefulness' of not believing in
Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. (I won't repeat the
wonderful case which G.K. Chesterton makes in the chapter, "The Ethic of
Elfland," from his book, _The Romance of Orthodoxy_, where he uses a
version of hard pragmatism to defend the likes of Santa Claus, etc., etc.)

Anyway, you seem to relegate "wicked problems," like a good linguistic
analyst, to badly formulated statements. And I would have to agree that
the adjective "wicked," however seductive, doesn't really tell us much
about a specific class or type of problem, and thus the general
characterization of "wicked problem" is rather unfulfilling. But that's
still no reason for the unwarranted comparison to our very good and
necessary friends.

(To be sure, especially since this is my first post to this list, my
comments are quasi-tongue-in-cheek. Nevertheless, Chesterton's defense of
"Elfland" is something which I would hope a learning organization is open
to learning from.)
-----
Host's Note: Well, you've caught my interest! Augustine, could you give
us Chesterton's defense of "Elfland", perhaps in summary form?
-----

--
Augustine A. Paz
a.k.a. MoonMan101@aol.com

"Philosophy is orthopedics for fractured belief." Jose Ortega Y Gasset