Extensionally defining principles and cases in ethics: An AI model

摘要

Principles are abstract rules intended to guide decision-makers in making normative judgments in domains like the law, politics, and ethics. It is difficult, however, if not impossible to define principles in an intensional manner so that they may be applied deductively. The problem is the gap between the abstract, open-textured principles and concrete facts. On the other hand, when expert decision-makers rationalize their conclusions in specific cases, they often link principles to the specific facts of the cases. In effect, these expert-defined associations between principles and facts provide extensional definitions of the principles. The experts operationalize the abstract principles by linking them to the facts.