Trekkie word of the day: Supererogation

In the 2009 Star Trek film, young Spock is being quizzed by computers, and we hear him answer a question but do not hear the question he was answering.

His answer was, "When an act is morally praiseworthy but not morally obligatory."

And, in fact, there is a term in ethics for such acts: Supererogation (super-er-o-gay-shun), from the Latin meaning to pay out over and above. So the question must have been, "What is supererogation?" or words to that effect.

Now you know. :)

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