In normative ethics, what is primarily concerned?

Normative ethics focuses on establishing how individuals should act according to moral principles and standards. This branch of ethics is primarily concerned with defining what is right and wrong, good and bad, and prescribing ethical guidelines for behavior. It examines the foundational questions surrounding moral duties, obligations, and what constitutes ethical conduct in various situations.

By emphasizing "how people ought to act," normative ethics seeks to provide a framework that guides behavior towards desired moral outcomes, often drawing on different moral philosophies, such as utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. This orientation towards prescriptive ethical norms differentiates it from descriptive ethics, which studies how people actually behave, or cultural relativism, which examines the varying moral frameworks across different societies. Moreover, while historical development may provide context, it does not directly inform the normative aspects of ethics as much as the direct inquiry into moral standards and actions does.