Philosophical ethics distinguishes what people do value from what people should value. What people do in fact value is the domain of such social sciences as sociology, psychology, and anthropology. As a branch of philosophy, however, ethics asks us to step back and rationally evaluate the customary beliefs and values that people do hold.
Philosophical ethics requires us to abstract ourselves from what is normally or typically done, and reflect upon whether or not what is done, should be done, and whether what is valued, should be valued. The difference between what is valued and what ought to be valued is the difference between ethos and ethics.