伦理学(ethics)
哲学的分支，探究最终价值的本质和藉以评断人类行动对错的标准。伦理学可以分为规范伦理学、元伦理学、应用伦理学。规范伦理学致力於为行为立下规范或标准，而规范伦理学的重要问题是：行动是否只应根据後果来评断对错。那些根据後果来评断行动的理论称为目的论伦理学（teleological ethics）或结果主义（consequentialism），而那些根据本身固有道德性质来评断行动的理论称为义务伦理学（deontological ethics）。元伦理学（metaethics）涉及道德语言的逻辑面与语意面分析，而主要的元伦理学理论包括自然主义（naturalism）、非自然主义（nonnaturalism，亦称直觉主义〔intuitionism〕）、情绪主义〔emotivism〕、规范主义〔prescriptivism〕）。应用伦理学（applied ethics）是把规范伦理学理论应用於实际的道德问题（例如堕胎、自杀、妇女的待遇、官员的行为）。亦请参阅deontological ethics。
English version：
ethics
Branch of philosophy that inquires into the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong. Ethics may be subdivided into normative ethics, metaethics, and applied ethics. Normative ethics seeks to set norms or standards for conduct; a crucial question of normative ethics is whether actions are to be judged right or wrong solely on the basis of their consequences. Those theories that judge actions by their consequences have traditionally been known as teleological ethics, or consequentialism, while those that judge actions according to their intrinsic moral quality have been referred to as deontological ethics. Metaethics is concerned with the analysis of the logical and semantic aspects of moral language; major metaethical theories include naturalism (see naturalistic fallacy), nonnaturalism (or intuitionism), emotivism, and prescriptivism. Applied ethics is the application of normative ethical theories to practical moral problems (e.g., abortion, suicide, the treatment of women, and the behavior of public officials). See also deontological ethics.