Normative-descriptive and the Naturalistic Fallacy

Abstract

One can discern between two different approaches to reality. One has to do with how things are, the other with how they should be, the descriptive and the normative. The reduction of the latter to the former has often been considered as fallacious. However, the problems sometimes seems to run deeper than a mere superficial question of logical paradoxes. A closer analysis of the problem, in connection with more practical occurrences of it, might help clarify things.