Metaethics is a branch of ethics that explores the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgments. It focuses on understanding the fundamental nature of ethical principles rather than applying them to specific situations. Therefore, the best answer among the given options is b: it attempts to form into a related whole the various norms, rules, and values of a society’s morality.
Option a, which suggests that metaethics compares and contrasts different ethical systems, codes, practices, and beliefs, pertains more to comparative ethics rather than the core inquiries of metaethics. Similarly, option c, which seems incomplete, does not accurately capture the essence of what metaethics seeks to understand.
In summary, metaethics deals with the questions of what moral terms mean, what moral facts exist, and whether moral judgments have truth values, rather than the practical application of those moral principles.