Gorski’s basic suggestion is that social science can offer us genuine insights into human well-being. Gorski is in pursuit of combating the “separationist” view of facts and opinions as they very broadly translated into a division of empirical and normative inquiry, respectively. He states that “… facts also leak into the domain of values” therefore the wall between facts and values is more permeable than perceived.[1] Facts cannot alone exist without some moral or ethical background and these backgrounds are essential in establishing said ‘facts.’ Gorski relies on the “ethical naturalism” which allows for “natural and social science …(to)… correct and expand our ethical knowledge.”[2] The co-existence of these types of knowledge will allow developing of further knowledge. Positivist philosopher, Sam Harris, brings Gorski’s argument to a type of extreme. He states that “values are a kind of fact.”[3] He exemplifies this by stating that if it is wrong to lie, it must always be wrong to lie and if there were to be an exception that there would be no moral truths.[4]  He agrees with religious thinkers who use the argument from their respective creators, that there are right and wrongs to moral questions.[5] Harris seems to make fun of the idea that normative inquiry can be rational when he asks if there are “moral expertise.”[6]

I find myself to agree with Gorski rather than Harris. To rely only on one form of knowledge seems to be irrational and narrowminded. I study International Relations, however, there is something to be said about the notion that this field of study is not a “hard” science. I will be more marketable if I specialize in the field and take more courses that are based on empirical learning. A holistic view is useful, however, let us note that my major itself it rooted on the “normative” scale of learning. I am not saying that I did this on purpose because I believe the normative inquiry is necessarily more valuable than scientific, rather I am drawing on this example to show that both are valuable. If ethics is neglected than our society is being unthoughtful but if empirical evidence is neglected, our society is being narrowminded.

My own research on how discourse shapes action does lead to a normative discovery of this kind. As an interpretivist, I am not prone to using normative assumptions, rather unpacking the way people perceive a concept and the implications of said perception.

 

Gorski Phillips S. “Beyond the Fact/Value Distinction: Ethical Naturalism and the Social Sciences.” Springer Symposium: Facts, Values and Social Science. Springer, October 16, 2013. 543-553.

Harris, Sam. “Science Can Answer Moral Questions.” TEDTalks. 2010.

[1] Philip S. Gorski, “Beyond the Fact/Value Distinction: Ethical Naturalism and the Social Sciences.” Springer Symposium: Facts, Values and Social Science. Springer, October 16, 2013. 553.

[2] Ibid, 551

[3]Sam Harris, “Science Can Answer Moral Questions,” TEDTalks, 2010.

[4] ibid

[5] ibid

[6] ibid