Which branch of ethics concerns itself most with moral attitudes and societal beliefs?

Descriptive ethics is the branch of ethics that focuses on understanding and describing the moral attitudes and beliefs that exist within a society or group. It seeks to study and analyze what people actually believe to be right or wrong, rather than prescribing what they ought to believe or how they should act, which is the realm of normative ethics.

In this context, descriptive ethics helps in documenting and reflecting on the diversity of moral values and social norms across different cultures and communities. This branch does not evaluate the validity of these beliefs but instead aims to provide a detailed account of ethical practices and societal beliefs as they are.

The other branches, such as normative ethics and meta-ethics, pursue different goals: normative ethics involves evaluating moral actions and proposing moral principles, while meta-ethics examines the nature of ethical statements and the meaning of ethical terms. Business ethics, meanwhile, specifically relates to ethical issues in the business context. In contrast, descriptive ethics' primary focus on societal beliefs and attitudes makes it the best fit in this scenario.