Ethics

Abstract Ethics is an important branch of philosophy; it's the study of a particular set of values, though neither aesthetic nor political. Ethical values distinctively pertain to what's right and wrong; morally permissible, forbidden, or obligatory; issues of good and evil; what constitutes moral conduct and the good life. Ethics is usually subdivided into three parts: applied ethics, normative ethics, and meta‐ethics. Applied ethics takes up ethical questions within specialized areas like the medical profession, the business arena, and journalism. It also takes up specific ethical questions, like the moral questions of abortion, homo‐sexuality, and euthanasia. Normative ethics is more theoretical, as it attempts to uncover the basis for the distinction between right and wrong. Meta‐ethics raises yet deeper theoretical concerns: fundamental questions about the connection between rationality and ethics, the meaning of moral terms, how it is we come to know moral truth, and whether there are any moral facts in the first place.