Final answer:
Social norms topics like gender identity, tolerance towards different sexual orientations, and family structures are part of Ethics, specifically within normative ethics. Feminist theories and other ethical paradigms examine these issues to propose standards for moral conduct, aligning with the idea that social relations greatly impact morality.
Step-by-step explanation:
Discussions over social norms such as “manliness” (or gender identity), tolerance towards homosexuality, preferences between polygamy and monogamy, and the obligation of filial piety indeed belong to the field of Ethics, also known as moral philosophy. These topics are part of normative ethics which attempts to establish criteria or principles for identifying norms and standards to guide correct behavior. Normative ethics addresses moral behavior and what humans should do in the context of societal relationships, emphasizing human agency, responsibility, and moral evaluation.
Feminist theories of ethics, which are a crucial part of normative ethics, challenge traditional ethical views that prioritize masculine characteristics as embodying the ideal person. These theories and other ethical paradigms, including consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethics, provide systematized accounts of morality with different standards for determining the rightness of conduct.
Focusing on social customs and morality, Greek philosophers also deliberated on whether the ethical standards and political institutions were natural or merely societal constructs. Much of ethics is concerned with how to behave toward one another, reinforcing the crucial role of social relations in moral development. Thus, exploring the moral dimensions of social norms falls squarely within the realm of Ethics.