Das moralphilosophische Experiment

One of John Dewey's guiding ideas was to reconstruct philosophy in order to solve practical problems. He considered the methodology of empirical science the most promising approach to guide this reconstruction. Despite the fact that Dewey favored the pattern of empirical inquiry as an appropriate theory in the humanities and especially in ethics, he did not develop a corresponding methodology for ethical problem solving. Against this background, Dewey's work Logic: The Theory of Inquiry was translated into a melioristic methodology for practice-oriented animal ethics. The resulting approach supports the transformation of abstract ethical principles into practical contexts without losing sight of responsible actors' limitations and theoretical foundations.