Descriptive ethics, also known as comparative ethics, is the study of people's beliefs about morality. It contrasts with prescriptive or normative ethics, which is the study of ethical theories that prescribe how people ought to act, and with meta-ethics, which is the study of what ethical terms and theories actually refer to. The following examples of questions that might be considered in each field illustrate the differences between the fields: This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Normative ethics is the branch of the philosophical study of ethics concerned with classifying actions as right and wrong, as opposed to descriptive ethics. ... In philosophy, meta-ethics or analytic ethics [1] is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, and ethical statements, attitudes, and judgments. ...

Descriptive ethics: What do people think is right?

Normative (prescriptive) ethics: How should people act?

Applied ethics: How do we take moral knowledge and put it into practice?

Meta-ethics: What does 'right' even mean?

What is descriptive ethics?

Descriptive ethics is a form of empirical research into the attitudes of individuals or groups of people. Those working on descriptive ethics aim to uncover people's beliefs about such things as values, which actions are right and wrong, and which characteristics of moral agents are virtuous. Descriptive ethics may also concern people's ethical ideals or what actions societies condemn or punish in law or politics. A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. ... An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal. ... Lady Justice or Justitia is a personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system (particularly in Western art). ... Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. ...

Because descriptive ethics involves empirical investigation, it is a field that is usually investigated by those working in the fields of evolutionary biology, psychology, sociology or anthropology. Information that comes from descriptive ethics is, however, also used in philosophical arguments. Evolutionary biology is a subfield of biology concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication, and diversity over time. ... Psychology is an academic or applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes such as perception, cognition, emotion, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Anthropology is the study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ...

Value theory can be either normative or descriptive but is usually descriptive. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Lawrence Kohlberg: An example of descriptive ethics

Lawrence Kohlberg is a good example of a psychologist working on descriptive ethics. In one study, for example^{[attribution needed]}, Kohlberg questioned a group of boys about what would be a right or wrong action for a man facing a moral dilemma: should he steal a drug to save his wife, or refrain from theft even though that would lead to his wife's death. Kohlberg's concern was not which choice the boys made, but the moral reasoning that lay behind their decisions. After carrying out a number of related studies, Kohlberg devised a theory about the development of human moral reasoning that was intended to reflect the moral reasoning actually carried out by the participants in his research. Kohlberg's research can be classed as descriptive ethics to the extent that he describes human beings' actual moral development. If, in contrast, he had aimed to describe how humans ought to develop morally, his theory would have involved prescriptive ethics. Lawrence Kohlberg (October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987) was born in Bronxville, New York. ...

Descriptive ethics and moral relativism

Descriptive ethics is often used in arguments that are intended to support moral relativism (a meta-ethical theory about the nature of right and wrong). Such arguments can take several forms, but tend to resemble the following: Image File history File links Circle-question. ... In philosophy, moral relativism is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect absolute and universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. ... In philosophy, meta-ethics or analytic ethics [1] is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, and ethical statements, attitudes, and judgments. ...

Premise 1: Europeans believe it is wrong to put old people out in the cold to die.

Premise 2: The Inuit believe that it is sometimes right to put old people out in the cold to die.

Premise 3: People in different cultures have different attitudes towards right and wrong.

Conclusion: What is right or wrong is determined by the culture you are living in.

This poor argument results from a confusion about the nature of descriptive and prescriptive ethics. The premises all refer to descriptive ethics; they refer to people's beliefs about what they ought to do. The conclusion refers to prescriptive or normative ethics; what people ought to do. World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of Earth; the term continent here referring to a cultural and political distinction, rather than a physiographic one, thus leading to various perspectives about Europes precise borders. ... For other uses, see Inuit (disambiguation). ...

See also

• List of ethics topics
• Meta-ethics
• Moral reasoning
• Scruples
• Lawrence Kohlberg