Skip to main content
SWStudyWalks Search

Ethics and Values / Unit 2   Ethics 069 short lesson, about 20 seconds

The Is/Ought Gap

Captions available

The idea

The is/ought gap: no set of purely factual premises, by itself, entails a conclusion about what ought to be done.

In practice

Hume's point: from "the drug ends pain" alone, nothing follows about giving it — until a premise like "pain ought to be eased" joins the argument.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it  ·  Sources for Ethics and Values