MORAL PHILOSOPHY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does moral philosophy mean? 

• MORAL PHILOSOPHY (noun)
  The noun MORAL PHILOSOPHY has 1 sense:

1. the philosophical study of moral values and rules

  Familiarity information: MORAL PHILOSOPHY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MORAL PHILOSOPHY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The philosophical study of moral values and rules

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

ethics; moral philosophy

Hypernyms ("moral philosophy" is a kind of...):

philosophy (the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics)

Domain member category:

egoism ((ethics) the theory that the pursuit of your own welfare in the basis of morality)

descriptivism ((ethics) a doctrine holding that moral statements have a truth value)

prescriptivism ((ethics) a doctrine holding that moral statements prescribe appropriate attitudes and behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "moral philosophy"):

bioethics (the branch of ethics that studies moral values in the biomedical sciences)

casuistry (moral philosophy based on the application of general ethical principles to resolve moral dilemmas)

endaemonism; eudemonism (an ethical system that evaluates actions by reference to personal well-being through a life based on reason)

hedonism (an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good)

 Context examples 

The Western tradition of ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy.

(Ethics, NCI Thesaurus)