ethonomics

Ethonomics is the provisional name for the discipline of formally mapping and defining the prioritization of values within value systems, with the intent of understanding differences between seemingly disparate value systems, the people who hold those value systems, and the decisions they make based on those value systems. The intent is also to provide a mechanism for resolving conflicts between value systems through rational analysis. Some would assert that an implicit consequence of ethonomics as applied to human value systems would be a form of moral universalism, derived from choosing an (the?) "optimal" value system via a formal process that "mathematically" proves the correctness of a particular prioritization of values. While some "ethonomists" might have such a goal, it is not inherent in the discipline itself. All that can be shown through ethonomics is how internally consistent a value system would be if applied in real life. For example, ethonomics could be used to demonstrate the consistency (or lack thereof) in a "might makes right" value system or moral code, but this would not make such a system superior to any other value system that is also internally consistent.

Ethonomics

See also