Moral philosophy is the branch of philosophy that contemplates what is right and wrong. It explores the nature of morality and examines how people should live their lives in relation to others. Moral philosophy has three branches - one branch is metaethics investigates big picture questions such as "What is morality"? "What is Justice?" "Is there truth?" and "How can I justify my beliefs as better than conflicting beliefs held by others?" Another branch of moral philosophy is normative ethics. It answers the question of what we ought to do. Normative ethics focuses on providing a framework for deciding what is right and wrong. Three common frameworks are deontology, utilitarianism and virtue ethics. The last branch is applied ethics. It addresses specific, practical issues of moral importance such as war and capital punishment. Applied ethics also talks specific moral challenges that people face daily, such as whether they should lie to help a friend or coworker. So, whether our moral focus is big picture questions a practical framework or applied to specific dilemmas, moral philosophy can provide the tools we need to examine and live an ethical life. Among the normative ethics deontology is an ethical theory that uses rules to discern the moral course of action. This theory uses rules to distinguish right from wrong. Immanuel Kant, the philosopher, believed that ethical actions follow universal moral laws, such as "Don't lie", "Don't Steal", "Don't Cheat." Deontology is simple to apply. It just requires that people follow the rules and do their duty. This approach tends to fit well with our natural intuition about what is or is not ethical. Unlike consequentialism, which judges actions by their results, deontology does not require weighing the costs and benefits of a situation. This avoids subjectivity and uncertainty because you only have to follow set rules. So, following the rules makes deontology easy to apply. But it also means disregarding the possible consequences of our actions when determining what is right and what is wrong.