Descriptive Ethics - Descriptive Ethics and Relativism

Descriptive Ethics and Relativism

Descriptive ethics does not explicitly discern between good and bad ethical theories. This can be interpreted in two ways.

• Descriptive ethics claims, implicitly or explicitly, that amorality (not to be confused with immorality) is moral. Descriptive ethics thus embraces moral relativism. Or,
• Descriptive ethics makes no claim that amorality is moral. Its innate amorality is solely due to a practical division of labour between descriptive ethics and normative ethics.

The first position holds descriptive ethics to be in competition with normative ethics, whereas the second holds it as complementary to normative ethics.