English

Noun

oughtness ‎(plural oughtnesses)

1. (chiefly philosophy) In ethics, the quality which makes an action dutiful or morally obligatory.^[1]
   • 1886, William Mitchell, "Moral Obligation," Mind, vol. 11, no. 41, p. 40:

     Every attempt to derive oughtness from rightness must, as we have shown, either end in an illogical system or destroy the possiblity of a separate science of Ethics at all.

   • 1958, Archie J. Bahm, "Aesthetic Experience and Moral Experience," The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 55, no. 20, p. 840:

     Oughtness, may I suggest, consists in the power which a greater good has over a lesser good in compelling our choices.

   • 2002, Roberta L. Coles, "Manifest Destiny Adapted for 1990s' War Discourse," Sociology of Religion, vol. 63, no. 4, p.415:

     Combining the reality of politics with a sense of "oughtness" creates a sense of duty to the collective.

2. (rare) The state or characteristic of something's being as it ought to be; rightness.^[2]
3. (rare) The obligatoriness of future actions or future states of affairs which are morally worthy of being produced through human effort.
   • 1964 Dec. 10, Martin Luther King, Jr., "Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize":

     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.

References

1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. (2004)
2. ↑ oughtness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• toughness