Main aim:
Taking normativity seriously
NormaCtivity is an international research network which aims to promote research on normativity (both human and non-human) in a new and broader perspective, connecting scholars interested in studying normative phenomena from different fields.
The basic intent is to extend the study of normativity beyond those areas that have traditionally dealt with it (i.e., in the twentieth century, almost exclusively ethics and law). In fact, we believe that a new approach to the study of normativity can open up further research directions and receive important insights from many other scientific disciplines (ethology, medicine, psychology, cognitive sciences, biology, etc.).
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At the basis of this project is the curiosity aroused by questions such as: What is normativity? Is it necessarily linked to language? What types of entities can perform a normative function? Is normativity necessarily connected to some kind of consciousness? What are the sources of normativity? What kind of ‘entity’ is a norm? What does it mean to say that norms ‘exist’? In what does the ‘reality’ of norms consist? Are norms necessarily propositional (i.e. have a propositional content)? What is ‘Ought’? Are there different types of Ought? Does regulation have to be normative? Are there forms of non-normative regulation?
Our idea is that the Normactivity website may serve both as a “network” to bring together scholars from different disciplines and countries interested in such kind of questions, and also as a “platform” for collaborative activities (e.g. discussion of papers in progress) and common projects (e.g. research projects) to explore them.
Research Areas
The areas in which the issue of normativity is particularly important today are at least the following (for each of them there are fellows who have joined the project – see Section “Network” of this site – and who have made publications available – see Section “Publications” of this site):
- Anthropology and Sociology
- Biology and Medicine
- Cognitive Science and Psychology
- Economics
- Ethology
- Information technology
- Law
- Philosophy
- Urban Geography, Planning and Design
Research Lines
Some of the lines of research that we believe it would be interesting to deepen are the following (this is only a first indicative list):
- Normativity of values
- Non-linguistic normativity (e.g. graphical normativity, artifacts normativity)
- Normativity and non-orthodox kinds of regulation (nudges and beyond)
- Normativity and social orders
- Normativity in infancy (developmental psychology)
- Animal normativity (ethology of normativity)
- Norms and space (and norms in space)
- Neurophysiological basis of normativity
- Normativity of social facts (social normativity: what are social norms?)
- Normativity and artificial intelligence (smart machines/robots)
Executive team
Co-founders
| Giuseppe Lorini | Stefano Moroni |
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| Professor of Philosophy of Law Department of Law, University of Cagliari, Italy | Professor of Planning Department of Architecture and Urban Studies Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy |
| Olimpia G. Loddo | Anita De Franco |
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| Tenure track researcher Department of Law University of Cagliari, Italy | Post-doctoral researcher Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy |
| Scientific coordinator of the cluster on inter-semiotic normativity | Scientific coordinator of the research unit on normative artifacts |
| Laura Danón | Andrea Loi |
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| Associate Professor of Philosophy School of Philosophy and Humanities, National University of Córdoba (Argentina) | PhD candidate in Philosophy Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan (Italy) |
| Scentific coordinator of the cluster on animal normativity | Assistant editor |