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Just Plain "Ought''

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Abstract

Is there any sense to the idea of an ``ought''that is not relative to any particularnormative framework? This ``ought'' would not bea moral, prudential, legal, aesthetic, orreligious ``ought,'' but rather an unqualified or just plain ``ought.'' Thispaper (i) argues for the existence andusefulness of just plain ``ought''; (ii) locatesthe concept of just plain ``ought'' within amajor strand in the history of ethics (namely,the perennial attempt to demonstrate thatmorality and prudence are in harmony); and(iii) challenges David Copp's recent attempt toshow that in fact there is no such thing asjust plain ``ought.'' A theory of just plain``ought'' emerges along the way.

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McLeod, O. Just Plain "Ought''. The Journal of Ethics 5, 269–291 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013934513554

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013934513554

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