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Ethical Theory : The Philosophical Study Of Morality Essay

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Ethical Theory is the philosophical study of morality. (Cambridge dictionary) this is the study of people or cultures and their ethical behaviors. There are many cultures and groups of people that make up our world. Not everyone has the same ethical values and each culture is uniquely different. Ethical theory is a set of beliefs by a culture, with an ethical theory it helps people set to values and concepts of right and wrong behavior. We use ethical systems to work through our problems to find out what ought to be morally right and wrong. (Wilkens, 2011) There are three main branches of ethical theory and they are; metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Metaethics is the study of where moral principles come from. Normative ethics regulates right and wrong behavior. Applied ethics looks at the most debatable issues that are faced in the world. With these different fields of ethics, philosophers try to figure out the best way to figure out how to best approach controversial issues. For the use of this paper, I will concentrate on Metaethics and how we use it to determine moral judgments.
Metaethics
Metaethics is the study of where morals originate from. Metaethics is the study of the origin and meaning of ethical concepts. (Fieser) Metaethics has two issues concerning where ethics come from are they spirit based or are they made by man. The spirit based realm says that morals are objective in that there is a higher power like God and he makes all morals,

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