Explain the distinction between descriptive ethics and normative ethics.

Descriptive ethics and normative ethics are two branches of ethics that focus on different aspects of moral philosophy. While both aim to understand and evaluate moral principles and behavior, they approach this task from different perspectives.

Descriptive ethics is concerned with describing and analyzing existing moral beliefs, values, and practices within a particular society or culture. It seeks to provide an objective account of how people actually behave and what they consider to be morally right or wrong. Descriptive ethics does not make any judgments about whether these beliefs and practices are morally justified or not; it simply aims to describe them as accurately as possible. This branch of ethics relies on empirical research methods, such as surveys, interviews, and observations, to gather data about moral attitudes and behaviors.

On the other hand, normative ethics is concerned with establishing and justifying moral principles and standards that guide human conduct. It aims to provide normative guidelines for determining what actions are morally right or wrong, good or bad. Normative ethics seeks to answer questions such as "What should I do?" or "What is the morally correct course of action?" It involves the development of ethical theories and frameworks, such as consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, which provide systematic approaches to evaluating moral choices. Normative ethics is concerned with prescribing how people ought to behave based on moral reasoning and principles.

In summary, descriptive ethics focuses on describing and analyzing existing moral beliefs and practices, while normative ethics aims to establish and justify moral principles and standards. Descriptive ethics provides an objective account of how people actually behave, while normative ethics seeks to provide guidance on how people should behave. Both branches are important in understanding and evaluating moral philosophy, as descriptive ethics informs normative ethics by providing empirical data, and normative ethics provides a framework for evaluating and critiquing existing moral beliefs and practices.