Univocal design : an ontotheology of creation

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Urquhart, Lewis William Robert and Mobed, Dean (2025) Univocal design : an ontotheology of creation. Inmaterial, 10 (20). pp. 172-199. ISSN 2462-5892 (https://doi.org/10.46516/inmaterial.v10.327)

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Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of univocal enmeshment as a novel ontological framework for understanding design as a metaphysical act of creation. Drawing from medieval theology - particularly Duns Scotus’s doctrine of univocity - and extending through mystical, occult, and modern philosophical traditions, we argue that design is not merely a technical or aesthetic practice but a manifestation of Being itself. By tracing the historical entanglement of design with Christian mysticism, occult science, and speculative metaphysics, we reveal how artefacts emerge from a shared ontological field that includes both Life and technics. Engaging with thinkers such as Deleuze, Simondon, Heidegger, and Thacker, we propose that design operates within a continuum of immanence, where creation is distributed, ambiguous, and co-emergent. The resulting model of univocal enmeshment challenges hierarchical and hylomorphic views of design, offering instead a vision of design as a mystical, recursive, and more-than-human process of becoming.

ORCID iDs

Urquhart, Lewis William Robert ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9773-8225 and Mobed, Dean;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)