What is normative question and is there a place for normative question Term Paper

What is normative question and is there a place for normative question - Term Paper Example y have the tendency of finding reason for everything they do and observe because they are not automatons who simply will do what they are asked to do. Instead, people have feelings and dreams which drive them to make sense of the things that affect their lives. Philosophers such as Plato, Confucius and Socrates asked various normative questions, trying to find not only the meaning and reason behind the norms but also the meaning and reason of living itself. However, it does not always take a philosopher to ask these questions. Normative questions have been asked even by nameless, faceless children. Normative questions are the opposite of positive questions. While normative questions focus on value, positive questions concentrate on the facts. For instance, normative questions will ask if a norm is good or bad or if it is right or wrong but positive questions inquire about the how the world moves, what is the distance between the moon and the earth or the speed of a falling body. In other words, positive questions spark a person’s interest on things that can be described and measured and answered with proofs such as statistics and experiments. The answers for normative questions on the other hand, are based on experience and general observations. In the world today wherein wisdom and intelligence are equated with knowledge about facts, normative questions are not as desired as positive questions. It seems that more and more people are interested in finding out about facts that science can explain. Many people are abandoning the teachings of religions because they claim that only unquestioning fanatics get fooled by the inaccurate teachings of religions. Stories in the Bible, Qu’ran and other religious books have become mere fairytales which only our â€Å"uneducated† ancestors believed to be true. Those who follow such teachings are not considered bright enough to see that they believe stories made up by men. This then brings the issue whether normative