In This Module You Have Learned The Difference Between Norma ✓ Solved

In This Module You Have Learned The Difference Between Normative Clai

In this module, you have learned the difference between normative claims and descriptive claims. This is an extremely important distinction to make, as we will rely on this distinction throughout the course. Before we move on to learning about and discussing a wide range of ethical theories, I'd like you to master this distinction. In your initial post, you must do the following: Explain which of the applied ethics topics you will choose to focus on in this course (animal rights, euthanasia or global poverty). Give an example of a descriptive claim related to your topic and explain why it is a descriptive claim. Give an example of a normative claim related to your topic and explain why it is a normative claim. If you refer to information from the text or outside sources, identify the location in parenthesis – e.g., (author, year, p. #).

Sample Paper For Above instruction

For my focus in this course, I have chosen to concentrate on the applied ethics topic of animal rights. The distinction between descriptive and normative claims is fundamental to ethical discussions, especially in applied ethics where factual statements about the world are scrutinized alongside moral judgments.

Descriptive Claim Example: "Approximately 70 billion land animals are slaughtered globally each year for human consumption" (FAO, 2020, p. 15). This statement is a descriptive claim because it reports a factual observation about the number of animals slaughtered annually. It aims to describe a real-world phenomenon without making any moral judgment about it.

Descriptive claims focus on facts and empirical data. In this case, the statement merely states what is happening without suggesting whether it is right or wrong. It can be verified or challenged through empirical investigation.

Normative Claim Example: "Humans have a moral obligation to reduce animal suffering by avoiding meat consumption" (Singer, 1975). This is a normative claim because it expresses a moral judgment about what people ought to do. It prescribes a course of action based on ethical considerations about animal suffering.

Normative claims involve value judgments or ethical principles that guide behavior. In this example, the claim asserts a moral duty rooted in the concern for animal welfare, which cannot be verified solely through empirical means but relies on ethical reasoning.

Understanding the distinction between these types of claims enables clearer reasoning in ethical debates. Descriptive claims inform us about the world, while normative claims guide our moral responses to what we observe.

References

  • FAO. (2020). The State of Food and Agriculture 2020. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
  • Singer, P. (1975). Animal Liberation. New York: Random House.

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