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Thefact–value distinction is a fundamentalepistemological distinction described between:[1]
This barrier between fact and value, as construed in epistemology, implies it is impossible to derive ethical claims from factual arguments, or to defend the former using the latter.[2]
The fact–value distinction is closely related to, and derived from, theis–ought problem in moral philosophy, characterized byDavid Hume.[3] The terms are often used interchangeably, thoughphilosophical discourse concerning the is–ought problem does not usually encompass aesthetics.[4]
InA Treatise of Human Nature (1739),David Hume discusses the problems in groundingnormative statements in positive statements; that is, in derivingought fromis. It is generally regarded that Hume considered such derivations untenable, and his 'is–ought' problem is considered a principal question ofmoral philosophy.[5]
Hume shared a political viewpoint with early Enlightenmentphilosophers such asThomas Hobbes (1588–1679) andJohn Locke (1632–1704). Specifically, Hume, at least to some extent, argued thatreligious and national hostilities that divided European society were based on unfounded beliefs. In effect, Hume contended that such hostilities are not found innature, but are a human creation, depending on a particular time and place, and thus unworthy ofmortal conflict.
Prior to Hume,Aristotelian philosophy maintained that all actions andcauses were to be interpretedteleologically. This rendered all facts about human action examinable under anormative framework defined bycardinal virtues andcapital vices. "Fact" in this sense was notvalue-free, and the fact-value distinction was an alien concept. The decline of Aristotelianism in the 16th century set the framework in which those theories of knowledge could be revised.[6]
The fact–value distinction is closely related to thenaturalistic fallacy, a topic debated in ethical andmoral philosophy.G. E. Moore believed it essential to all ethical thinking.[7] However, contemporary philosophers likePhilippa Foot have called into question the validity of such assumptions. Others, such asRuth Anna Putnam, argue that even the most "scientific" of disciplines are affected by the "values" of those who research and practice the vocation.[8][9] Nevertheless, the difference between the naturalistic fallacy and the fact–value distinction is derived from the manner in which modernsocial science has used the fact–value distinction, and not the strict naturalistic fallacy to articulate new fields of study and create academic disciplines.
The fact–value distinction is also closely related to themoralistic fallacy, an invalid inference of factual conclusions from purely evaluative premises. For example, an invalid inference "Because everybody ought to be equal, there are no innate genetic differences between people" is an instance of the moralistic fallacy. Where the naturalistic fallacy attempts to move from an "is" to an "ought" statement, the moralistic fallacy attempts to move from an "ought" to an "is" statement.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) inThus Spoke Zarathustra said that a table of values hangs above every great people. Nietzsche argues that what is common among different peoples is the act ofesteeming, of creating values, even if the values are different from one people to the next. Nietzsche asserts that what made people great was not the content of their beliefs, but the act of valuing. Thus the values a community strives to articulate are not as important as the collective will to act on those values.[10] Thewilling is more essential than theintrinsic worth of the goal itself, according to Nietzsche.[11] "A thousand goals have there been so far," says Zarathustra, "for there are a thousand peoples. Only the yoke for the thousand necks is still lacking: the one goal is lacking. Humanity still has no goal." Hence, the title of the aphorism, "On The Thousand And One Goals." The idea that onevalue system is no more worthy than the next, although it may not be directly ascribed to Nietzsche, has become a common premise in modern social science.Max Weber andMartin Heidegger absorbed it and made it their own. It shaped their philosophical endeavor, as well as their political understanding.[12][13][14][15][16]
In his essayScience as a Vocation (1917)Max Weber draws a distinction between facts and values.[12] He argues that facts can be determined through the methods of avalue-free, objective social science, while values are derived through culture and religion, the truth of which cannot be known through science. He writes, "it is one thing to state facts, to determine mathematical or logical relations or the internal structure of cultural values, while it is another thing to answer questions of the value of culture and its individual contents and the question of how one should act in the cultural community and in political associations. These are quite heterogeneous problems."[17] In his 1919 essayPolitics as a Vocation, he argues that facts, like actions, do not in themselves contain any intrinsic meaning or power: "any ethic in the world could establish substantiallyidentical commandments applicable to all relationships."[18][16]
According toMartin Luther King Jr., "Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary."[19][20][21] He stated that science keeps religion from "cripplingirrationalism and paralyzingobscurantism" whereas Religion prevents science from "falling into ... obsoletematerialism andmoral nihilism."[22]
Albert Einstein remarked that
the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Though religion may be that which determines the goal, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up. But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.[23]
Virtually all modern philosophers affirmsome sort of fact–value distinction, insofar as they distinguish between science and "valued" disciplines such asethics,aesthetics, or the finearts. However, philosophers such asHilary Putnam argue that the distinction between fact and value is not as absolute as Hume envisioned.[24] Philosophicalpragmatists, for instance, believe that true propositions are those that areuseful oreffective in predicting future (empirical) states of affairs.[25] Far from being value-free, the pragmatists' conception of truth or facts directly relates to an end (namely, empirical predictability) that human beings regard asnormatively desirable. Other thinkers, such asN. R. Hanson among others, talk oftheory-ladenness, and reject an absolutist fact–value distinction by contending that our senses are imbued with prior conceptualizations, making it impossible to have any observation that is totally value-free, which is how Hume and the laterpositivists conceived of facts.
Several counterexamples have been offered by philosophers claiming to show that there are cases when an evaluative statement does indeed logically follow from a factual statement.A. N. Prior argues, from the statement "He is a sea captain," that it logically follows, "He ought to do what a sea captain ought to do."[26]Alasdair MacIntyre argues, from the statement "This watch is grossly inaccurate and irregular in time-keeping and too heavy to carry about comfortably," that the evaluative conclusion validly follows, "This is a bad watch."[27]John Searle argues, from the statement "Jones promised to pay Smith five dollars," that it logically follows that "Jones ought to pay Smith five dollars", such that the act of promising by definition places the promiser under obligation.[28]
Philippa Foot adopts amoral realist position, criticizing the idea that when evaluation is superposed on fact there has been a "committal in a new dimension".[29] She introduces, by analogy, the practical implications of using the word "injury". Not just anything counts as an injury. There must be some impairment. When we suppose a man wants the things the injury prevents him from obtaining, haven’t we fallen into the old naturalist fallacy?
It may seem that the only way to make a necessary connection between 'injury' and the things that are to be avoided, is to say that it is only used in an 'action-guiding sense' when applied to something the speaker intends to avoid. But we should look carefully at the crucial move in that argument, and query the suggestion that someone might happen not to want anything for which he would need the use of hands or eyes. Hands and eyes, like ears and legs, play a part in so many operations that a man could only be said not to need them if he had no wants at all.[30]
Foot argues that the virtues, like hands and eyes in the analogy, play so large a part in so many operations that it is implausible to suppose that a committal in a non-naturalist dimension is necessary to demonstrate their goodness.
Philosophers who have supposed that actual action was required if 'good' were to be used in a sincere evaluation have got into difficulties over weakness of will, and they should surely agree that enough has been done if we can show that any man has reason to aim at virtue and avoid vice. But is this impossibly difficult if we consider the kinds of things that count as virtue and vice? Consider, for instance, the cardinal virtues, prudence, temperance, courage and justice. Obviously any man needs prudence, but does he not also need to resist the temptation of pleasure when there is harm involved? And how could it be argued that he would never need to face what was fearful for the sake of some good? It is not obvious what someone would mean if he said that temperance or courage were not good qualities, and this not because of the 'praising' sense of these words, but because of the things that courage and temperance are.[31]
PhilosopherLeo Strauss criticizes Weber for attempting to isolate reason completely fromopinion. Strauss acknowledges thephilosophical trouble of deriving "ought" from "is", but argues that what Weber has done in his framing of this puzzle is in fact deny altogether that the "ought" is within reach of human reason.[32]: 66 Strauss worries that if Weber is right, we are left with a world in which the knowable truth is a truth that cannot be evaluated according to ethical standards. This conflict between ethics and politics would mean that there can be no grounding for any valuation of the good, and without reference to values, facts lose their meaning.[32]: 72
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