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Normative has specialized meanings in several academic disciplines. Generically, it means relating to an ideal standard or model. In practice, it has strong connotations of relating to a typical standard or model (see also normality).

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Philosophy

In philosophy, normative statements affirm how things should or ought to be, how to value them, which things are good or bad, which actions are right or wrong. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language In Meta-ethics, the is-ought problem was raised by David Hume ( Scottish Philosopher and Historian, 1711 &ndash Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how why and to what degree humans should or do value things whether the thing is a person idea object or anything else Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how why and to what degree humans should or do value things whether the thing is a person idea object or anything else In Philosophy, action has developed into a sub-field called Philosophy of action. A right is a legal or moral Entitlement or Permission. Rights are of vital importance in theories of Justice and deontological ethics A wrong or being wrong is a concept in Law, Ethics, and Science. Normative is usually contrasted with positive (i. In the Humanities and Social sciences, the term positive is used in a number of ways e. descriptive, explanatory, or constative) when describing types of theories, beliefs, or propositions. An explanation is a description which may clarify causes context, and Consequences of a certain object and a phenomenon such as a process, a The word theory has many distinct meanings in different fields of Knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true In Logic and Philosophy, proposition refers to either (a the content or Meaning of a meaningful Declarative sentence Positive statements are falsifiable statements that attempt to describe reality. Falsifiability (or "refutability" is the logical possibility that an assertion can be shown false by an observation or a physical experiment Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist"

For example, "children should eat vegetables", "smoking is bad", and "those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither" are normative claims. On the other hand, "vegetables contain a relatively high proportion of vitamins", "smoking causes cancer", and "a common consequence of sacrificing liberty for security is a loss of both" are positive claims. Whether or not a statement is normative is logically independent of whether it is verified, verifiable, or popularly held.

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. David Hume (26 April 1711 25 August 1776 Scottish Philosopher, Economist, and Historian is an important figure in Western philosophy There are several schools of thought regarding the status of normative statements and whether they can be rationally discussed or defended. Reason involves the ability to think understand and draw Conclusions in an Abstract way as in Human thinking 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. In Philosophy, practical reason is the use of Reason to decide how to act. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Jürgen Habermas (ˈjʏʁgən ˈhaːbɐmaːs born June 18, 1929 is a German Philosopher and Sociologist in the tradition of Emotivism (also known as the hurrah/boo theory) is the meta-ethical view which claims that Ethical sentences do not express Propositions

Normative statements and norms, as well as their meanings, are an integral part of human life. Norms are sentences or sentence meanings with practical i e action-oriented (rather than descriptive explanatory or expressive import the most common of which 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. Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings thoughts and behaviours In Philosophy, action has developed into a sub-field called Philosophy of action.

The way in which individuals or societies define that which they consider to be appropriate, that is to be in accordance with their (normative) standards, varies greatly between peoples and cultures. Many philosophers have searched for a source of normative values which is independent of the individual's subjective morality and consequently objective and 'true' in nature.

Standards

In standards terminology, "normative" means "considered to be a prescriptive part of the standard". Standardization (or standardisation) is the process of developing and agreeing upon technical standards. In Linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used It characterises that part of the standard which describes what ought (see philosophy above) to be done within the application of that standard. Normative has specialized meanings in several academic disciplines It is implicit that application of that standard will result in a valuable outcome (ibid. ). 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. Normative economics is the branch of Economics that incorporates value judgments (that is normative judgements about what the economy ought Normative economics deals with questions of what sort of economic policies ought to (see philosophy above) be pursued, in order to achieve desired (that is, valued, ibid. Normative has specialized meanings in several academic disciplines ) economic outcomes.

In social sciences the term "normative" is used to describe the effects of those structures of culture which regulate the function of social activity. The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including Anthropology, Communication studies Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic In the Social sciences, specifically Sociology and Sociocultural anthropology, functionalism (also called functional analysis) is a Sociological Those structures thus act to encourage or enforce social activity and outcomes that ought to (with respect to the norms implicit in those structures) occur, while discouraging or preventing social activity that ought not occur. That is, they promote social activity that is socially valued (see philosophy above). Normative has specialized meanings in several academic disciplines While there are always anomalies in social activity (typically described as "crime" or anti-social behaviour, see also normality) 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. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment Family values is a political and social concept used in various cultures to describe values that are believed to be traditional in that culture and in support of the idea Common sense (or when used attributively as an Adjective, commonsense, common-sense, or commonsensical) based on a strict construction

Normative behavior is a term used in sociology to describe actions intended to normalize something, or make it acceptable. Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or Reactions of an object or Organism, usually Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge"

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. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society As such, normative argument can be conflicting. For example, from one normative value position the purpose of the criminal process may be to repress crime. From another value position, the purpose of the criminal justice system could be to protect individuals from the moral harm of wrongful conviction.

See also

Further reading

Dictionary

normative

-adjective

  1. Of, pertaining to, or using a norm or standard.
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