Please someone explain what "normative" means in philosophy

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Please someone explain what "normative" means in philosophy

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"moral claims have no truth value. They still have normative value"

In this and other expressions, what does it mean if something is normative? I have no trouble grasping philosophical concepts, but "normative" completely befuddles me.

I once asked a philosophy professor point blank to define this term for me, and he went red in the face, started to mumble and stutter, and finally gave me a three-word explanation which was apparently his best attempt: "fu aole", not in this incredibly rude way, but the meaning was equivalent (minus the vulgarity minus the rudeness.)
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Aristocles
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

Post by Aristocles »

deus ex machina
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

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Azt a fűzfán fütyülőjét!
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Aristocles
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

Post by Aristocles »

-1- wrote:"moral claims have no truth value. They still have normative value"

In this and other expressions, what does it mean if something is normative? I have no trouble grasping philosophical concepts, but "normative" completely befuddles me.

I once asked a philosophy professor point blank to define this term for me, and he went red in the face, started to mumble and stutter, and finally gave me a three-word explanation which was apparently his best attempt: "fu aole", not in this incredibly rude way, but the meaning was equivalent (minus the vulgarity minus the rudeness.)
There is something significant seeming about the inclination to change the language when trying to define something difficult (notable is the disciplines of law and medicine). Adding to the complexity of defining "normative," one might notice truth appears to be heavily connected to norms. So, to say moral claims have no truth value, but they have normative value, appears to be a further play on words.
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

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Thanks, Socr, that makes sense. Normative as in "average" or "commonly accepted". Great. Thanks.
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

Post by Fooloso4 »

Normative means rule, law, or custom. A normative value is one that is established by rule, law, or custom. Since norms vary from culture to culture some hold that normative values have no “truth value”. Truth value is a term from logic. In classical logic there are two truth values - true and false. There are, however, multivalent logics, that is, logics with more than two values. Others, however, hold that moral values are absolute, that the rules or laws of logic are not determined by custom. According to this view truth value can be assigned to normative values.
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

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Thanks, Fool4sophia
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

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She has that something that makes a fool of me!
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Re: Please someone explain what "normative" means in philoso

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Fooloso4 wrote:She has that something that makes a fool of me!
Agape for Pallas Athena. Yep.
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