I have two observations on the exchange between Jean Schneider and Rosan Chow.
Rosan concluded from my comment re design as the domain of ontology "that means, a philosophy of design is a philosophy of being and to me, that is a philosophy of morals." I would make one revision to this view by substituting ethics for morals.
By degree, whatever we bring into being by design acts on our 'being-in-the-world' and 'the world' itself (in this respect ontologies and the ontic exist in a circular relation). By implication know it or not, the act and consequence of designing bring futures into being, or take them away. The ontological character of design practice is therefore either an ethical or unethical agency. Once a designer understands this, design can become recognised as a site of ethical decision, and design practice a domain of moral or immoral action.
In this context, when Jean Schneider asserts that "philosophy is the job of philosophers'" a comprehension of what philosophical knowledge is, and can ontologically do, becomes diminished. At its most fundamental philosophy is thinking. Continually the discipline of philosophy turns in on itself and fails to think that which certainly the first philosophers presented as that which must most crucially be thought (not least this imperative included basic ontological questions on the nature of being). It can be concluded that if one is to take responsibility for what one brings into being (by design) then one has to learn how to think (which is more than mere reasoning). In others words, designers need to become practical philosophers, or equally, philosophers with an ethically concretised practice.
Inevitably, in my attempt to clarify a point I have compressed a large and complex issue and generated many more questions.
Sincere apologies,
Tony Fry.
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