# Grounding Value Alignment with Ethical Principles

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.05447 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.05447/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Jul 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [On the Inevitability of Left-Leaning Political Bias in Aligned Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.15328/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

An important step in the development of value alignment (VA) systems in AI is understanding how values can interrelate with facts. Designers of future VA systems will need to utilize a hybrid approach in which ethical reasoning and empirical observation interrelate successfully in machine behavior. In this article we identify two problems about this interrelation that have been overlooked by AI discussants and designers. The first problem is that many AI designers commit inadvertently a version of what has been called by moral philosophers the "naturalistic fallacy," that is, they attempt to derive an "ought" from an "is." We illustrate when and why this occurs. The second problem is that AI designers adopt training routines that fail fully to simulate human ethical reasoning in the integration of ethical principles and facts. Using concepts of quantified modal logic, we proceed to offer an approach that promises to simulate ethical reasoning in humans by connecting ethical principles on the one hand and propositions about states of affairs on the other.