Since its inauguration in 1998 Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (ETMP) has established itself as one of the principal forums for ethicists worldwide.  To celebrate this, ETMP is organizing an international conference that takes as its general theme the title of the journal.  What is the relationship between ethical theory and moral practice?

Ethical theory – be it concerned with metaethics, normative ethics, or applying ethical theory to everyday moral concerns - is remarkably heterogeneous with many positions and theories, approaches and questions.  Ethical theory is also a field that is undergoing change.  Having been an exclusively philosophical enterprise, it is rapidly becoming a field of disciplinary cross-pollination.  Findings from moral psychologists and cognitive scientists have, for some time, thrown new light on different aspects of moral practice.  The growth of empirical data on people’s behaviour and valuations accentuate the need to reconsider the relation between ethical theory and moral practice.  Needless to say, the relation is not straightforward.  There is no consensus among ethicists concerning the role of ethical theory.  The idea that it should provide us with the means in the form of general principles to guide or criticize moral choices has been questioned from various directions, most recently by moral particularists.  Moreover, even if many would agree that the relation between ethical theory and moral practice has to be interactive, there is not much agreement on the details of this interaction.  Ethicists should try to formulate their views based on as much relevant data as possible - this is merely an expression of the argumentative nature of ethical theory.  The issue is rather what presumptions about human nature and societies are ethicists making, and how empirically well supported are they?  Furthermore, what ethical and philosophical assumptions are empirical research programmes based on?  And, in all of this, when theories and everyday moral intuitions clash, how do we decide which should be changed and why?