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There are four normative theories: 1) Utilitarianism with the principle of utility as the basic moral principle; 2) Kantianism with the categorical imperative as the fundamental moral principle; 3) ethical intuitionism (in its methodological sense) with a plurality of moral principles; and 4) virtue ethics with virtues as its focus.

The application of normative theories and standards to practical moral problems is the concern of applied ethics. This subdiscipline of ethics deals with many major issues of the contemporary scene, including human rights, social equality, and the moral implications of scientific research, particularly in the area of genetic engineering.

Normative ethics. In other words, a deontological approach calls for doing certain things on principle or because they are inherently right, whereas a teleological approach advocates that certain kinds of actions are right because of the goodness of their consequences. Deontological theories thus stress the concepts of obligation, ought, duty,...