Final answer:
Ethics is the field of philosophy that investigates morality and engages in 'systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior'. It is divided into three main areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Metaethics focuses on moral reasoning and foundational questions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Ethics is the field of philosophy that investigates morality and engages in "systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior" (Fieser 1995). It is divided into three main areas metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics-each of which is distinguished by a different level of inquiry and analysis.
Metaethics focuses on moral reasoning and foundational questions that explore the assumptions related to moral beliefs and practice. It attempts to understand the presuppositions connected to morality and moral deliberation. Metaethics explores, for example, where moral values originate, what it means to say something is right or good, whether there are any objective moral facts, whether morality is (culturally) relative, and whether there is a psychological basis for moral practices and value judgements.