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This seminar explores a deeper understanding of empathy’s potential and limitations within the broader context of design justice. Students will be introduced to ongoing debates about “design thinking” and “human-centered design.” We will explore how social and technological forces have complicated such concepts and deepened their relevancy for building systems and products that address problems worth solving. Readings such as Sara Hendren’s What Can a Body Do?, Sasha Costanza-Chock’s Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the World We Need, and Kat Holmes’s Mismatch will provide a foundation for critical dialogue on principles of inclusive design, community advocacy, and ethical empathy. Come prototype tools for a more just and humane society.