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oughtness

noun

Etymology

From ought + -ness.

  1. derived from āgan — “to own, possess”
  2. inherited from āhte
  3. inherited from oughte
  4. suffixed as oughtness — “ought + ness”

Definitions

  1. In ethics, the quality which makes an action dutiful or morally obligatory.

    • Every attempt to derive oughtness from rightness must, as we have shown, either end in an illogical system or destroy the possibility of a separate science of Ethics at all.
    • Oughtness, may I suggest, consists in the power which a greater good has over a lesser good in compelling our choices.
    • Combining the reality of politics with a sense of "oughtness" creates a sense of duty to the collective.

  2. The state or characteristic of something's being as it ought to be

    The state or characteristic of something's being as it ought to be; rightness.

  3. The obligatoriness of future actions or future states of affairs which are morally worthy…

    The obligatoriness of future actions or future states of affairs which are morally worthy of being produced through human effort.

    • I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for oughtness. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA