Werturteil

Werturteil refers to an evaluative or normative judgment about the value, desirability, obligation, or quality of something. It is a statement about what ought to be, what is good or bad, beautiful or ugly, just or unjust, rather than a claim about how things actually are.

In German-language philosophy and related disciplines, Werturteile are often contrasted with Sachurteile (descriptive statements about factual states of affairs). While Sachurteile aim to describe the world, Werturteile express evaluations, approvals, disapprovals, or prescriptions. Werturteile can concern ethics, aesthetics, politics, law, and everyday life.

A central topic in the discussion of Werturteile is their status and justification. Debates address whether value judgments are objective and truth-apt or subjective and dependent on attitudes, emotions, or conventions. The traditional is-ought problem, articulated in moral philosophy, asks how normative claims can be derived from descriptive premises. Theories range from moral realism (values correspond to objective properties) to anti-realism and expressivism (values express attitudes rather than state facts) and prescriptivism (values function as norms or commands guiding action).

Werturteile often interact with rational justification, intercultural disagreement, and legal or political arguments. They do not simply describe a state of affairs; they guide behavior, policy, or evaluation, and their force can vary across contexts and cultures.

Examples include: ethical judgments like “Es ist falsch zu lügen,” aesthetic judgments like “Der Klang ist schön,” and political judgments like “Regierungen sollen Gerechtigkeit fördern.”