Normative learning processes for addressing grand societal challenges: The ordonomic approach of methodological instrumentalism

Grand societal challenges are systemic in nature. They require coordinated behavioral change as well as reliable normative orientation. Prevailing sustainability approaches treat targets such as the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals as fixed objectives that merely need to be implemented. In contrast, this paper develops an ordonomic perspective that conceives of sustainability as an open-ended process of normative learning. Methodological Instrumentalism is introduced as a grammar of argumentation. Grounded in the practical syllogism, it provides methodological guidance for generating normatively persuasive arguments. This procedure supports both the implementation of existing sustainability goals and their critical reassessment. Using an illustrative case, the paper demonstrates how institutional arrangements can evolve through stakeholder dialogue, experimental approaches, and continuous feedback processes. The ordonomic approach thus offers a dynamic, institutionally grounded alternative to static, technocratic, or moralistic conceptions of sustainability governance.