Branch of philosophical ethics concerned with the meaning of moral propositions and the grounds upon which moral judgments are to be justified.
Meta-ethical theories typically offer an account of moral language and its uses together with an explanation of the logical relations between assertions of fact and value.
Recommended Reading: Robin Attfield, Value, Obligation, And Meta-ethics (Rodopi, 1995); David O. Brink, Moral Realism and the Foundations ofEthics (Cambridge, 1989); Bernard Williams, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (Harvard, 1986); T. Tannsjo, The Relevance of Metaethics to Ethics (Coronet, 1976); Andrew Minase, A Book of Metaethics (iUniverse, 2000) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++