Here are key words and phrases commonly used to highlight the contrast between a philosophical approach (abstract, conceptual, theoretical, reflective) and an operational approach (practical, applied, concrete, implementation-focused). These draw from philosophy, political theory, methodology discussions, and related fields like liberalism debates.
Highlighting the Philosophical Approach
• Abstract / abstraction
• Theoretical / theorizing
• Conceptual / conceptual framework
• Ideal / ideal-type / idealized
• Normative / value-oriented
• Principled / principle-based
• Speculative / reflective
• Foundational / foundational principles
• Visionary / inspirational
• Manifesto-like / declarative
• Big-picture / overarching
• North Star / guiding ideal
• Philosophical defense / justification
• Thought experiment / hypothetical reasoning
• Meta-level / meta-theoretical
Highlighting the Operational Approach
• Concrete / concretization
• Practical / pragmatism / pragmatic
• Applied / application-focused
• Implementation / implementable
• Operational / operationalizable
• Action-oriented / action-focused
• Step-by-step / procedural
• Toolkit / how-to / blueprint
• Policy-oriented / policy design
• Institutional / reform-based
• Executable / hands-on
• Measurable / testable / empirical
• Grounded in reality / context-specific
• Methodological / technique-driven
• Instrumental / cause-and-effect focused
