Which term concerns describing beliefs about morality without making judgments?

• A. Descriptive Ethics
• B. Meta-Ethics
• C. Morals
• D. Duty

Answer: (A)

Descriptive ethics is about reporting what people actually believe and how they behave with regard to right and wrong, without judging those beliefs. It studies morality as it is—empirically, through surveys, observations, and descriptions of practices—rather than prescribing what should be done. This makes it the best fit for describing beliefs about morality without making judgments.

By contrast, normative ethics asks how people ought to act and presses for moral judgments and prescriptions about what is right or wrong. Meta-ethics goes a level deeper by examining the meanings and status of moral terms and judgments—what we mean by “good,” whether moral claims are objective or relative, and so on. Morals refers to the beliefs themselves, and duty concerns obligations that guide actions, which are often framed normatively rather than descriptively.