PHILOSOPHY, ETHICS & NORMATIVE SYSTEMS - Nous-Sapient

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PHILOSOPHY, ETHICS & NORMATIVE SYSTEMS

Claim type clarity

Distinguish normative claims (“ought”) from descriptive claims (“is”), and from instrumental claims (“if you want X, do Y”).

Moral framework explicitness

What ethical theory or principles are being used (even if implicitly)?

Internal coherence

Are principles consistent, non-contradictory, and stable under variation?

Scope & moral jurisdiction

Who is included, excluded, and why (persons, stakeholders, future generations)?

Trade-off handling

How conflicts between values are adjudicated (rights vs welfare, fairness vs efficiency).

Edge cases & stress scenarios

Does reasoning hold under extreme or adversarial conditions?

Hidden assumptions

Background claims about human nature, agency, responsibility, harm, and fairness.

Action-guidance quality

Does the ethics provide usable guidance or only critique?

Proportionality & reasonableness

Are prescriptions realistically actionable without demanding moral heroism?

Misuse potential

How ethical language can be weaponized (shaming, coercion, selective enforcement).

Legitimacy of enforcement

If ethics is translated into rules, who enforces and with what safeguards?

Compatibility with pluralism

How the ethical stance coexists with disagreement in diverse societies/organizations.

Legitimacy criteria

What makes rule legitimate (consent, justice, outcomes, tradition)?

Theory of the person

Assumptions about human nature, rationality, self-interest, and moral agency.

Power model

How power is obtained, maintained, constrained, and abused.

Rights and duties structure

What rights exist, whether they are absolute or defeasible, and why.

Justice mechanism

How fairness is defined and adjudicated (distribution, procedure, recognition).

Institutional translation

What institutions are implied (state, courts, markets, civil society), and how they function.

Incentive compatibility

Whether the system works with real incentives, not ideal actors.

Coercion and enforcement

How rules are enforced, limits on force, due process safeguards.

Pluralism handling

How disagreement, dissent, and minority rights are protected.

Stability and adaptability

Whether the system remains stable under shocks and evolves without collapse.

Failure modes

Authoritarian drift, capture, tyranny of majority, fragmentation.

Boundary conditions

Contexts where a political philosophy’s prescriptions are unsafe (weak institutions, corruption, polarization).

Problem anchoring

Is the applied question concretely defined (who, what decision, what constraints)?

Concept selection fit

Are the philosophical concepts chosen relevant to the real problem, or decorative?

Definition discipline

Are key terms (duty, autonomy, harm, fairness, virtue, responsibility) defined consistently?

Reasoning validity

Are arguments logically coherent and non-circular? (5) Normative vs empirical separation: Are factual claims distinguished from value claims?

Normative vs empirical separation

Are factual claims distinguished from value claims?

Action-guidance quality

Does the philosophy produce operational guidance (what to do) rather than critique alone?

Trade-off handling

How conflicts between values are resolved in the specific context.

Constraint realism

Does guidance respect real constraints (law, resources, time, incentives, human limits)?

Stakeholder mapping

Whose interests/rights are considered, excluded, or deprioritized—and why.

Enforcement/implementation implications

If guidance becomes policy, what mechanisms and safeguards are required?

Misuse risk

How arguments can be weaponized to justify harm, coercion, or evasion of responsibility.

Boundary conditions

Where the guidance fails, backfires, or becomes unsafe.

Consistency across cases

Does the applied guidance remain stable across similar cases or collapse into ad hoc exceptions?

Text–practice fidelity

Is the applied guidance faithful to the source tradition’s intent, constraints, and internal logic?

Concept translation integrity

Are key terms translated without distortion (e.g., “detachment,” “non-attachment,” “desire,” “duty,” “self,” “suffering”)?

Scope of claim clarity

Distinguish spiritual/metaphysical claims from psychological practices and ethical guidance.

Practice definition & method

What exactly is the practice (steps, frequency, conditions), not just the idea?

Mechanism of benefit

How the practice is supposed to work (attention, cognition, emotion regulation, community norms).

Boundary conditions

For whom, when, and under what conditions the practice helps vs harms.

Psychological risk screening

Risks of suppression, dissociation, guilt, or spiritual bypassing.

Ethical misuse risk

How teachings can justify passivity, harm tolerance, domination, or avoidance of responsibility.

Authority & lineage claims

Whether authority is asserted responsibly (no “appeal to ancientness” as proof).

Contextual fit

Compatibility with modern roles (leaders, parents, clinicians, citizens) and constraints.

Integration discipline

How practices integrate with daily life without creating contradiction or identity fragmentation.

Evidence and validation stance

What is claimed as experiential truth vs empirically testable benefit.

Comparative fairness

If comparing traditions, avoid cherry-picking and false equivalence; preserve distinct aims.