oughtness

From ought +‎ -ness.

oughtness (countable and uncountable, plural oughtnesses)

1. (chiefly philosophy) In ethics, the quality which makes an action dutiful or morally obligatory.[1]
   • 1886, William Mitchell, “Moral Obligation”, in Mind, volume 11, number 41, page 40:

     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.

   • 1958, Archie J. Bahm, “Aesthetic Experience and Moral Experience”, in The Journal of Philosophy, volume 55, number 20, page 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”, in Sociology of Religion, volume 63, number 4, page 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 December 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.

• toughness