ought implies can

ought implies can, in ethics, the principle according to which an agent has a moral obligation to perform a certain action only if it is possible for him or her to perform it. In other words, if a certain action is impossible for an agent to perform, the agent cannot, according to the principle, have a moral obligation to do so. Attributed to the German Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, the principle of ought implies can has been regarded as a minimal condition on the plausibility of any ethical theory: viz, no such theory is justifiable if it implies that agents have duties to perform actions that they are unable to perform.

The principle has been variously interpreted, and its plausibility may depend in part on the relevant sense of “can.” The principle may be plausible, for example, if “can” is understood to refer to what is physically possible or in keeping with the laws of nature. Thus, arguably, no human being ever has a moral obligation to jump to the top of a 20-story building at a single bound. But the principle is less plausible if “can” is understood more broadly to mean what an agent may do given the means or resources currently available. In that case, for example, the principle might imply that people who willfully incur a large debt that they know they will not be able to repay are not morally obliged to repay it.

The principle of ought implies can should not be confused with Hume’s law (named for the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume), according to which “ought” cannot be derived from “is.” In other words, statements that assert moral obligations do not follow logically solely from statements of fact or statements about the way the world is.