Toward Pluralizing Reflection in HCI through Daoism
Aaron Pengyu Zhu, Kristina Mah, Janghee Cho
TL;DR
The paper addresses the Western centric framing of reflection in HCI and proposes Daoism as a plural epistemology to broaden both theory and design. Through semi structured interviews with 18 Daoist practitioners, it identifies three interrelated dimensions of reflection: Stillness, Resonance, and Emergence, reframing reflection as emptiness, relationality, and emergence rather than purely cognitive self improvement. It argues for reflecting-with as an ethical, entangled stance and outlines design implications that integrate embodied practices, non linear temporality, and more-than-human agency. The work advances an ethico onto epistemology of reflection and suggests cosmotechnics inspired approaches to HCI design that acknowledge situational flows and interdependencies between humans, artifacts, and environments.
Abstract
Reflection is fundamental to how people make sense of everyday life, helping them navigate moments of growth, uncertainty, and change. Yet in HCI, existing frameworks of designing technologies to support reflection remain narrow, emphasizing cognitive, rational problem-solving, and individual self-improvement. We introduce Daoist philosophy as a non-Western lens to broaden this scope and reimagine reflective practices in interactive systems. Combining insights from Daoist literature with semi-structured interviews with 18 Daoist priests, scholars, and practitioners, we identified three key dimensions of everyday reflection: Stillness, Resonance, and Emergence. These dimensions reveal emergent, embodied, relational, and ethically driven qualities often overlooked in HCI research. We articulate their potential to inform alternative frameworks for interactive systems for reflection, advocating a shift from reflection toward reflecting-with, and highlight the potential of Daoism as an epistemological resource for the HCI community.