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Information about Normative

Normative has specialized meanings in several academic disciplines. Generically, it means relating to a typical standard or model.

Philosophy

In philosophy, normative is usually contrasted with positive (i.e. descriptive) or explanatory when describing types of theories, beliefs, or propositions. Descriptive (or constative) statements are falsifiable statements that attempt to describe reality. Normative statements, on the other hand, affirm how things should or ought to be, how to value them, which things are good or bad, which actions are right or wrong.

It is only with David Hume in the 18th century that philosophers began to take cognizance of the logical difference between normative and descriptive statements and thinking, although Socrates had emphatically established it more than two thousand years before. There are several schools of thought regarding the status of normative statements and whether they can be rationally discussed or defended. Among these schools are the tradition of practical reason extending from Aristotle through Kant to Habermas, which asserts that they can, and the tradition of emotivism, which maintains that they are merely expressions of emotions and have no rational content.

Normative statements and norms, as well as their meanings, are an integral part of human life. They are fundamental for prioritizing goals and organizing and planning thought, belief, emotion and action and are the basis of much ethical and political discourse.

Standards

In standards terminology, "normative" means "considered to be a prescriptive part of the standard". For example, many standards have an introduction, preface, or summary that is considered non-normative, as well as a main body that is considered normative. "Compliance" is defined as "complies with the normative sections of the standard"; an object that complies with the normative sections but not the non-normative sections of a standard is still considered to be in compliance.

Social sciences and economics

See economics aspect in normative economics.

In social sciences the term "normative" is used to describe the effects of those structures of culture which regulate the function of social activity. While there are always anomalies in social activity (typically described as "crime") the normative effects of popularly-endorsed beliefs (such as "family values" or "common sense") push most social activity towards a generally homogenous set, resulting in varying degrees of social stability.

Normative behavior is a term used in sociology to describe actions intended to normalize something, or make it acceptable.

Law

In law, as an academic discipline, the term "normative" is used to describe the way something ought to be done according to a value position. For example, from one normative value position the purpose of the criminal process may be to repress crime whilst from another position, it could be to protect individuals from the moral harm of wrongful conviction. It simply refers to different value positions.

See also

Further reading

Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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In the humanities and social sciences, the term positive is used in a number of ways.

One usage refers to analysis or theories which only attempt to describe how things are, as opposed to how they should be. In this sense, the opposite of positive is normative.
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For the linguistics term, see Prescription and description. For the scientific research term, see Scientific method.


Description in the common parlance has a variety of context dependent meanings, it can be:
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An explanation is a statement which points to causes, , and consequences of some object, process, state of affairs, etc., together with rules or laws that link these to the object. Some of these of the explanation may be implicit.
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The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion.

In common usage, people often use the word theory to signify a conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation.
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Belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth or validity of a proposition or premise (argument). Belief does not necessarily confer the ability to adequately prove one's main contention to other people, who may disagree.
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proposition is the content of an assertion, that is, it is true-or-false and defined by the meaning of a particular piece of language. The proposition is independent of the of communication.
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Falsifiability (or refutability or testability) is the logical possibility that an assertion can be shown false by an observation or a physical experiment. That something is "falsifiable" does not mean it is false; rather, it means that it is capable of being
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is-ought problem was raised by David Hume (Scottish philosopher and historian, 1711–1776), who noted that many writers make claims about what ought to be on the basis of statements about what is.
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BAD may refer to:
  • Big Audio Dynamite - British rock band founded by Mick Jones, formerly of punk pioneers The Clash.
  • Broken as designed - A computer slang term originating at IBM, saying of a program that it is bogus because of bad design and misfeatures rather than

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Action, is a concept of interest in philosophy, it has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action. Action is what an agent can do.

For example, throwing a ball is an instance of action; it involves an intention, a goal, and a bodily movement guided by
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right is the legal or moral entitlement to do or refrain from doing something or to obtain or refrain from obtaining an action, thing or recognition in civil society. Compare with privilege, or a thing to which one has a just claim.
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A wrong or being wrong is a concept in law, ethics, and science.

Law

In law, a wrong can be a legal injury, which is any damage resulting from a violation of a legal right. It can also imply the state of being contrary to the principles of justice or law.
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David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776)[1] was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
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In western philosophy, reason has had a twofold history. On the one hand, it has been taken to be objective and so to be fixed and discoverable by dialectic, analysis or study.
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practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. This contrasts with theoretical reason (often called speculative reason), which is the use of reason to decide what to believe.
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Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
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Immanuel Kant (22 April, 1724 – 12 February, 1804) was a philosopher from Königsberg in the Kingdom of Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and the closing period of the Enlightenment.
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People with the surname Habermas include:
  • German philosopher Jürgen Habermas
  • Christian apologist and theologian Gary Habermas
This page or section lists people with the surname Habermas.

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Emotivism is the non-cognitivist meta-ethical theory that ethical judgments are primarily expressions of one's own attitude and imperatives meant to change the attitudes and actions of another.
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Norms are sentences or sentence meanings with practical, i. e. action-oriented (rather than descriptive, explanatory, or expressive) import, the most common of which are commands, permissions, and prohibitions.
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Thought or thinking is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires.
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Belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth or validity of a proposition or premise (argument). Belief does not necessarily confer the ability to adequately prove one's main contention to other people, who may disagree.
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emotion is a "complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioral, and physiological elements, by which the individual attempts to deal with a personally significant matter of event.
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Action, is a concept of interest in philosophy, it has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action. Action is what an agent can do.

For example, throwing a ball is an instance of action; it involves an intention, a goal, and a bodily movement guided by
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standardization or standardisation can have several meanings depending on its context. Common use of the word standard implies that it is a universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for interoperability.
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In linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used. These rules can cover such topics as standards for spelling and grammar or syntax; or rules for what is deemed socially or politically correct.
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