Design and Reflective Judgment are the central concepts in an argument about the need and importance of diverse dialogue and perspectives in the shaping technological means and ends. But what is that argument? Why not let a few individuals make the important decisions, such as the experts who are able to build the technology, or others in with expert vantage points and authority to discern the primary ends, such as business people with their focus on the profitability and efficiency necessary to ensure survival in the marketplace?

Andrew Feenberg's argument rests on a Hannah Arendt's Reflective Judgment, which itself rests on reformulated ideas from Immanuel Kant and Socrates.

It is perhaps the later views of Socrates which are crucial to both a practical (less important) and ethical (more important) foundation for Reflective Judgment. Over-simplifying, a key social and political insight from Socrates is the need for individuals to move with and beyond their restricted and idiosyncratic experiences and resulting views of the world through a discussion with others to foster an enlarged mentality.

The HICSS paper examines the