Metaethics is the study of moral thought and moral language. Rather than addressing questions about what practices are right and wrong, and what our obligations to other people or future generations are – questions of so-called 'normative' ethics – metaethics asks what morality actually is.

What is the study of metaethics?

The study of meta-ethics refers to the nature of ethical terms and concepts and to the attempt to understand the underlying assumptions behind moral theories; therefore, it is the branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, and judgments.

What are the 2 approaches in metaethics?

Major metaethical theories include naturalism, nonnaturalism (or intuitionism), emotivism, and prescriptivism.