ABSTRACT
Can normative questions be answered empirically, given that they describe what ought to be, rather than what is, or are they necessarily abstract and metaphysical? This chapter argues that both procedural and substantive answers to normative questions rely on at least some fact-invariant principles, or organizing ideals as I have called them. Organizing ideals serve as lodestars that help guide our answer to questions about justice. While these ideals must be accepted and are not amenable to direct proof, we can nevertheless demonstrate their salience: We can ask which organizing ideals are most relevant to the features of our social context. And we can ask what the priority between different ideals and principles is; whether an ideal is constitutive of some good or derived from it.
