Empirical Ethics

Empirical Ethics is a research line that continues the so-called empirical turn in epistemology, the humanities & beyond by connecting insights gained through qualitative and quantitative methods with value considerations. The analytical focus thereby shifts from principles to understanding what different actors and stakeholders consider as desirable and undesirable practices, whether at the individual, societal, or institutional level.

Empirical Ethics thus enacts a turn toward the horizontal perspective, coined in terms of ethics in practice, situated ethics, ethics from within, as well as ethical interventions.

While there are several approaches to empirical ethics, the horizontal variation is inspired by different lines of tradition within Philosophy and Anthropology, like Science and Technology Studies (STS), Care Ethics, Postphenomenology, or Praxeology.