Observing Facts and Values: A Brief Theory and History

Not acknowledging the history and metaphysics of the fact/value distinction has led to confusion about the difference between the normative and the cognitive, and disputes on whether there are ways to move from one side, facts, to the other, values. One solution is to recognize values as more “objective” than facts, and thus blur the common way of drawing this distinction. The origin of the distinction between facts and values appears in the space between them, when and where it is uncertain whether an observation becomes fact or value. Once values turn into subjective beliefs, the entire distinction collapses, and modernity begins to end.