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Characteristic vs Oughtness - What's the difference?

characteristic | oughtness |

As nouns the difference between characteristic and oughtness

is that characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing while oughtness is (chiefly|philosophy) in ethics, the quality which makes an action dutiful or morally obligatoryoxford english dictionary , 3rd ed (2004).

As an adjective characteristic

is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

characteristic

English

(wikipedia characteristic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
  • * , chapter=12
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}

    Synonyms

    * distinctive * exclusive * idiosyncratic * indicative * representative * signature * specific * typical

    Antonyms

    * uncharacteristic * untypical

    Derived terms

    * characteristic function * characteristicness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a distinguishable feature of a person or thing
  • (mathematics) the integer part of a logarithm
  • (nautical) the distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc)
  • (algebra, field theory) The minimum number of times that the unit of a field must be added unto itself in order to yield that field's zero, or, if that minimum natural number does not exist, then (the integer) zero.
    • A field's characteristic, if non-zero, must be a prime number.

    Synonyms

    * attribute * idiosyncrasy * mannerism * quality * tendency * trademark * trait * See also

    Derived terms

    * defining characteristic

    Related terms

    * characteristically

    See also

    * mantissa

    External links

    * *

    oughtness

    English

    Noun

    (oughtnesses)
  • (chiefly, philosophy) In ethics, the quality which makes an action dutiful or morally obligatory.Oxford English Dictionary , 3rd ed. (2004)
  • * 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 , , "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.
  • (rare) The state or characteristic of something's being as it ought to be; rightness.
  • (rare) The obligatoriness of future actions or future states of affairs which are morally worthy of being produced through human effort.
  • * 1964 Dec. 10, , "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

    Anagrams

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