Promise and Oath – An Answer to the Is-Ought Problem

The is-ought problem, first systematically formulated by David Hume, presents a fundamental challenge: From the description of the world (the “is”), no normative statement (the “ought”) logically follows. This dilemma continues to permeate ethics, legal philosophy, and political theory to the present day. Hans Kelsen, the founder of the Pure Theory of Law, also accepted this divide: Law, he argued, is a system of norms set apart from morality or nature—formal, logical. The “ought” must arise from a fundamental normative premise, not from an idea of the good or the just.

However, language philosophy has provided an alternative approach. In the speech act theories of John L. Austin and John Searle, language is not merely seen as descriptive but as performative: When someone says, “I promise you…”, they are doing something. A promise is a performative act—it creates a new reality, a normative bond, through language itself. The “ought” here arises not through logical deduction but through a conscious, public, linguistically performed self-commitment.

At the heart of this idea lies the oath: the “sacred promise.” The oath is not merely a ritual but a profound form of human self-binding. It combines the inner (conscience), the interpersonal (trust), and the political (responsibility). It is an act of identification with the “ought,” born of freedom—not compulsion. The oath is an act of humanity.

The project recognizes in this concept a radical form of self-creation: Humans are not driven toward the good, but they choose it—not out of fear but out of conviction. Not through nature, but through language, community, and attitude. A promise, in the sense of the project, is an act of dignity. It attests: I take myself seriously—and I take you seriously with me.

Thus, the is-ought problem is not solved abstractly but practically overcome: in word, in trust, in oath. Here, the ethics of the project reveal themselves in their concrete, living form. They do not live through commandments but through spoken trust. And perhaps this is the deepest law: a word that connects because it seeks to be believed.