Search results
In philosophy, metaethics —sometimes known as analytic ethics —is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, and ethical statements, attitudes, and judgments. Another way of saying it is that metaethics is reasoning about the presuppositions behind or underneath a normative ethical view or theory.
Metaethics explores, for example, where moral values originate, what it means to say something is right or good, whether there are any objective moral facts, whether morality is (culturally) relative, and whether there is a psychological basis for moral practices and value judgements.
Article Summary. A tripartite distinction is often drawn in moral philosophy between (i) applied ethics, (ii) normative ethical theory, and (iii) metaethics. Applied ethics seeks answers to moral questions about specific practices like abortion, euthanasia and business, while normative ethics seeks abstract moral principles that apply generally.
