Empirical Research and Normative Theory

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.