(Moral) philosophy and (moral) theology can function as (behavioural) science: a methodological framework for interdisciplinary research

Fabio Zagonari ()
Additional contact information
Fabio Zagonari: Università di Bologna

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 2019, vol. 53, issue 6, No 23, 3158 pages

Abstract: Abstract In this paper I present two examples in which environmental moral rules, obtained from religious precepts (e.g., the dignity of non-humans and harmony with nature in Hinduism or Buddhism, stewardship in Judaism, trusteeship and parsimony in Islam, love of neighbours in Christianity) or ethical principles (e.g., responsibility for nature, responsibility for future and current generations, and aversion to inter- and intra-generational inequality) can be matched with observed behaviours to test assumptions, insights, or both. In particular, traditional scientific tests (i.e., validation vs. calibration for reliability; out-of-sample estimations vs. numerical simulations for feasibility) and recent scientific tests (i.e., invariance under observations vs. interventions for robustness of relationships; holism vs. individualism for aggregation requirements; and causal mechanisms vs. evolutionary processes for stability of equilibria) are applied to these examples to demonstrate how moral philosophy and theology (respectively) can function as instances of empirical behavioural science (i.e., by assessing observed actions in real contexts using scientifically sound procedures). Thus, this paper provides a standardised methodology for problem-solving contexts (i.e., achieving local and global sustainability) and knowledge-practicing contexts (i.e., testing the empirical content of moral rules) to support interdisciplinary research by integrating concepts and cross-validating models from different fields of inquiry.

Keywords: Morality; Ethics; Philosophy; Theology; Behavioural science; Interdisciplinary research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-019-00930-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:53:y:2019:i:6:d:10.1007_s11135-019-00930-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11135-019-00930-5

Access Statistics for this article

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology is currently edited by Vittorio Capecchi

More articles in Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().