Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Philosophy and empirical research entered a formidable and by no means unambiguous relationship around the time of the emancipation of individual disciplines of science, which remains to be discussed up to this day. This holds true for example for questions of practical philosophy: In the last decades, different scientific disciplines began to show intensified interest in empirical endeavors on a descriptive understanding of morals. Nonetheless, there remains a strong separation between the domains of normative theory on the one and empirical research on the other hand, with both tending to neglect discourses from each other. Recently, a conjunction of the insights and methods of both approaches have been proclaimed to yield valuable insights. Contrary to the verdict of a strict segregation of is and ought there are various attempts of an integration of both theoretical approaches. This calls for a discourse on the definition of the relation of empirical research and normative theory. This volume tries to discuss possible definitions and problems from an interdisciplinary point of view.
Synopsis
Two questions often shape our view of the world. On the one hand, we ask what there is and, on the other hand, we ask what there ought to be. Empirical research and normative theory, the methodological traditions concerned with these questions, entered a difficult relationship, from at least as early as around the time of the advent of modern sciences. To this day, there remains a strong separation between the two domains, with both tending to neglect discourses and results from the other. Contrary to a verdict of strict segregation between "is" and "ought," there are, nowadays, various attempts to integrate both theoretical approaches. This calls for a discourse on the relation between empirical research and normative theory. In this volume, scholars from different disciplines - including psychology, sociology, economics, and philosophy - discuss the possible desired or undesired influences on, and limits of, the integration of these two theoretical approaches.