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The point is, "verstehen" may, after all, mean "theory of action" in
the sense that Mrs. Ntsane meant it, and in the sense that teaching design
understanding - through the application of (mix of theory and practice)
principles - is a kind of "theory of action" = design theory is close to
action theory, is close to action learning.
Design understanding (given that to teach "understanding" is
very difficult if not impossible, in any straightforward manner) can be
made easier through "verstehen" - in Afrikaans it is "verstaan", meaning
understand, or know, or getting-to-know. This last
is a coming-into-being of an understanding of design, through doing something,
whether that something is applying the practical principles of design or
writing and structuring words, to "make it knowable" to yourself and to
others.
A PhD in design could look at this "designerly way" of seeing
things - through "verstehen" - by perhaps considering some form of
"theory of action" coupled of course to design understanding (also meaning
contribution to knowledge), and ultimately allowing the reader of the PhD
thesis, through a "verstehen of action", to get-to-know (and then
to "understand") the work itself.
As for the term positivism, I have alway been under the impression (I may have been reading the "wrong" stuff) that positivism is not a "good term" in the sense that it seems to be used to make what too often sounds like categorical statements about states of the world, and in design you cannot do that (at least not as if this "statement" is the only, final, definitive one). In terms of design logical positivism seems to fit better, however contradictory that may sound. Design is a social conversation, and that is illogically logical. If logical positivism uses symbolic "logic" and emphasizes the problems of language use, then I am all for it. Design is, like a social system, based on symbolic "logic" -which logic may be irrational, arbitrary etc. but still make perfect sense - and above all based on the system of language (again symbolic) that any given culture uses to express itself.
This is just thinking out loud.
Johann