# the philosophy of design chapter 7 **Opening (not a real abstract):** So far, we have investigated some key aspects of Design, attempting along the way to assess the various philosophical claims about Design implicit in Modernist thinking. Although we have covered aesthetics, expression and function, there is one very broad area about which we haven't yet said much: ethics. In this chapter, we will take up this important topic, but, before we do, a bit of terminological clarification is in order. In its everyday use, the term “ethics,” and its sister word “morality,” perhaps suggest a set of more or less explicit rules or norms which constrain our public behavior. To behave in an ethical manner is, in this sense, to follow the relevant rules of conduct. In philosophical contexts, however, the term is used a broader way to refer to a concern with the question of how