Editing Bottom-up and top-down design (section)

== Philosophy and ethics ==
Top-down reasoning in ethics is when the reasoner starts from abstract universalizable principles and then reasons down them to particular situations. Bottom-up reasoning occurs when the reasoner starts from intuitive particular situational judgements and then reasons up to principles.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://philpapers.org/rec/COHTNO| title=Nature of Moral Reasoning by Stephen Cohen |year=2004| publisher=Oxford University Press }}{{location missing |date=March 2025}}{{ISBN missing|date=April 2025}}</ref>{{full citation needed |date=May 2025}} [[Reflective equilibrium]] occurs when there is interaction between top-down and bottom-up reasoning until both are in harmony.<ref>{{citation|first=John |last=Rawls |title=Theory of Justice}}{{year missing |date=March 2025}}{{publisher missing |date=March 2025}}{{location missing |date=March 2025}}{{ISBN missing|date=April 2025}}</ref>{{full citation needed |date=May 2025}} That is to say, when universalizable abstract principles are reflectively found to be in equilibrium with particular intuitive judgements. The process occurs when [[cognitive dissonance]] occurs when reasoners try to resolve top-down with bottom-up reasoning, and adjust one or the other, until they are satisfied, they have found the best combinations of principles and situational judgements.