Vaughn P. 3-19

Morality is about people’s moral judgments, principles, rules, standards, and theories—all of which help direct conduct, mark out moral practices, and provide the yardsticks for measuring moral worth. We use morality to refer generally to these aspects of our lives (as in “Morality is essential”) or more specifically to the beliefs or practices of particular groups or persons (as in “American morality” or “Kant’s morality”).

• Ethics is the study of morality using the tools and methods of philosophy

Descriptive ethics is the study of morality using the methodology of science. Its purpose is to investigate the empirical facts of morality—the actual beliefs, behaviors, and practices that constitute people’s moral experience.

Normative ethics is the search for, and justification of, moral standards, or norms.

Metaethics is the study of the meaning and justification of basic moral beliefs.

• In normative ethics we might ask whether an action is right or whether a person is good, but in metaethics we would more likely ask what it means for an action to be right or for a person to be good.

Applied ethics is the use of moral norms and concepts to resolve practical moral issues.