oughtness

Noun

oughtness (countable and uncountable, plural oughtnesses)

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.1886, William Mitchell, “Moral Obligation”, in Mind, volume 11, number 41, page 40
   • Oughtness, may I suggest, consists in the power which a greater good has over a lesser good in compelling our choices.1958, Archie J. Bahm, “Aesthetic Experience and Moral Experience”, in The Journal of Philosophy, volume 55, number 20, page 840
2. (rare) The state or characteristic of something's being as it ought to be; rightness.
3. (rare) 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.1964 December 10, Martin Luther King, Jr., Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize