Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2009
There are many uses of the word ‘ought’, not all of which are moral uses. The following sentences contain ‘oughts’ which are not moral ‘oughts’. The peaches on the tree nearest the house ought to be ripe. The old car ought to go now it's had a re-bore. You ought to prune your Lorraine Lee roses in February. You ought to wash your hands before meals. You ought to take more exercise.
1 Kant, I., Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, as translated by Abbott, T. K. in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and other works on the Theory of Ethics (Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1954), sixth edition, p. 31Google Scholar.
2 Op. cit., p. 38 (first formulation).
3 Op. cit., p. 47 (second formulation).
4 Op. cit., p. 49 (third formulation).
5 Op. cit., p. 52 (fourth formulation).
6 Op. cit., p. 33.
7 Thus Paton, H. J., The Moral Law (Hutchinson University Library, London, 1966)Google Scholar, introduction; and SirRoss, David, Kant's Ethical Theory: A Commentary on the Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1954), P.39Google Scholar.
8 See Keane, H., A Primer of Moral Philosophy (P. J. Kennedy and Sons, New York, 1951), fourth edition, pp. 13–14Google Scholar; and Rickaby, J., Moral Philosophy or Ethics and Natural Law (Longmans, Green and Co., 1914, Stonyhurst Philosophical Series), pp. 1–2Google Scholar.
9 Kant, I., Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, as translated by Abbott, T. K. in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and other works on the Theory of Ethics (Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1954), sixth edition, p. 46Google Scholar.
10 Op. cit., p. 46.
11 Op. cit., p. 49.
12 Op. cit., p. 52.
13 Op. cit., p. 47.
14 Op. cit., p. 49.
15 Stocks, J. L., Morality and Purpose (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969), pp. 28–29Google Scholar.
16 Kant, I., Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, as translated by Abbott, T. K. in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and other works on the Theory of Ethics (Longmnas, Green and Co., London, 1954), sixth edition, pp. 51–52Google Scholar.
17 Op. cit., p. 52.
18 Op. cit., p. 52.
19 Toulmin, S. E., An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 1950), p. 137Google Scholar.
20 Strawson, P. F., ‘Social Morality and Individual Ideal’, Philosophy (January 1961), p. 5Google Scholar.
21 i.e. ‘objective ends’.
22 i.e. ‘subjective ends’.
23 Kant, I., Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, as translated by Abbott, T. K. in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and other works on the Theory of Ethics (Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1954), sixth edition, p. 51Google Scholar.