If I tell you “you are morally required to do X”, you can still reply “so what?”. One can reply “so what?” to anything, and the fact that a moral theory doesn’t prevent that is no objection to it.
But for the kind of utilitarianism you’re describing, if you tell me “you are morally required to do X”, I can say “so what” and be correct by your moral theory’s standards. I can’t do that in response to anything.
It does claim something else would be morally better. It doesn’t claim that you are obliged to do it. Why use the word “ought” only for the second and not the first?
It doesn’t seem that way to me. It seems to me that “ought” covers a fairly broad range of levels of obligation, so to speak; in cases of outright obligation I would be more inclined to use “must” than “ought”.
But for the kind of utilitarianism you’re describing, if you tell me “you are morally required to do X”, I can say “so what” and be correct by your moral theory’s standards. I can’t do that in response to anything.
What do you mean by “correct”?
Your theory does not claim I ought to do something different.
It does claim something else would be morally better. It doesn’t claim that you are obliged to do it. Why use the word “ought” only for the second and not the first?
Because that is what most English-speaking human beings mean by “ought”.
It doesn’t seem that way to me. It seems to me that “ought” covers a fairly broad range of levels of obligation, so to speak; in cases of outright obligation I would be more inclined to use “must” than “ought”.