Normative Ethics and Metaethics

Moral philosophy is sometimes divided into metaethics and normative ethics. Normative ethics tackles the ethical questions we all face, such as "What has value?" and "What are our moral obligations?" Metaethics, on the other hand, asks philosophical questions about ethics, rather than ethical questions per se. "What is value?" rather than "What has value?" And "What can make it the case that we ought to do something?" rather than "What ought we to do?"

The term 'philosophical ethics' sometimes refers to the project of integrating metaethics and normative ethics in a systematic way, trying to gain insight into what is valuable and obligatory (normatively) by understanding what value and obligation are (metaethically). 

The great systematic ethical philosophies, such as those of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Mill, can all be read as examples of philosophical ethics. We will read them and consider their applicability to contemporary ethical problems.