Word: oughtness
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...there certainly are measures of economic and societal success that we ought to pay more attention to. But ditch GDP? Perish the thought...
...Stein, his opponents have hardly covered themselves in glory. Evolutionary biologists and social commentators have lately taken to answering the claims of intelligent-design boosters not with clear-eyed scientific empiricism but with sneering, finger-in-the-eye atheism. Biologist P.Z. Myers, for example, tells Stein that religion ought to be seen as little more than a soothing pastime, a bit like knitting. Books such as Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great and Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion often read like pure taunting, as when Hitchens pettily and pointedly types God as lowercase god. Tautology as typography...
...study of nature has been the study of zero-sum savagery--a universal bloodlust that allows us to shrug at our own brutality, reckoning that mere animals like us can hardly be expected to do better. Discovering such close genetic cousins who behave themselves so well--even sometimes--ought to give us pause. There are already plenty of reasons to save the Congo Basin, but teaching the highest species on the planet the value of a little peace and love is one more very good...
What can schools do to help students dream bigger? -Anna Wei, New York CityAll universities ought to do a better job of encouraging students to take courses outside of their major. Dreams come from broadening your horizons and rubbing elbows with different kinds of people...
...second area in which science has run into problems is with the naturalistic fallacy. The naturalistic fallacy is the simple step of expanding “is” into “ought.” “Is” is a positive statement of fact. “Ought” is a normative statement and carries much more baggage with it. For example, when considering human evolution, chimpanzees are the closest common ancestor to humans. Male chimps when trying to mate often turn violent. Field studies have observed male chimps forcing copulation with female chimps...