In the recent article, “Descriptive and Normative Ethical Behavior Appear to be Functionally Distinct,” the case was presented for an analysis of ethical conduct based on the Western philosophical approach derived from descriptive and normative ethics (Cox, 2020). The author conducted two experiments with graduate students evaluating whether these two approaches were functionally related. Participants gave forced‐choice as well as free responses that were later hand‐coded. Cox concluded that descriptive and normative ethics are functionally distinct. A critique of this general approach is offered based on a concern that this approach may not be steering the field in a direction that is ultimately useful for practitioners or relevant in therapeutic settings. Suggestions for future directions for practical ethical research are offered which, we might hope, should provide us with a better understanding of the variables controlling ethical conduct in practical situations.

中文翻译：

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实践与理论伦理：对考克斯的回应

在最近的文章“描述性和规范性道德行为似乎在功能上不同”中，提出了基于源自描述性和规范性伦理学的西方哲学方法分析道德行为的案例（Cox，2020）。作者对研究生进行了两个实验，评估这两种方法在功能上是否相关。参与者给出了强制选择以及后来被手工编码的自由反应。考克斯得出结论，描述性伦理学和规范性伦理学在功能上是不同的。对这种一般方法的批评是基于一种担忧，即这种方法可能不会将这个领域引导到最终对从业者有用或与治疗环境相关的方向上。为实践伦理研究的未来方向提供了建议，其中，