ABSTRACT
Ought Implies Can (OIC) violations are even clearer in the case of immoral attitudes and emotional reactions. People raised with xenophobic attitudes ought, nevertheless, not to feel disgust, fear, or hatred toward people different from them. The many who discuss OIC as a principle concerning moral obligation are most naturally interpreted as defending OIC for pro tanto oughts. The ‘can’ in OIC is sometimes characterized as the control someone has over what they do. Though understanding ‘can’ as involving general human abilities is somewhat plausible at first, it’s not obvious how to determine the abilities of humans in general or ‘normal humans’, and as a result OIC views that rely on this concept are rarely discussed or defended. Ability plus opportunity is the dominant way to read the ‘can’ in OIC, there is certainly no consensus on this point. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
