Definitions and approaches

Broadly speaking, ethics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address issues related to concepts of right and wrong. It is sometimes referred to as moral philosophy and can be divided into different subject areas including, amongst others, meta-ethics (e.g. the role of truth, God, reason and the meanings of various terms used); normative ethics (which focuses on how moral values are determined and what is needed to ensure that they are achieved) and applied ethics (examining controversial issues) (Fieser, 2006).