Terminology Tuesday: Supererogation

Supererogation is the technical term for the class of actions that go “beyond the call of duty.” Roughly speaking, supererogatory acts are morally good although not (strictly) required. Although common discourse in most cultures allows for such acts and often attaches special value to them, ethical theories have only rarely discussed this category of actions directly and systematically. A conspicuous exception is the Roman Catholic tradition, which gave rise to the concept of supererogation, and the virulent attacks on it by Lutherans and Calvinists. Surprisingly, the history of supererogation in non-religious ethical theory is fairly recent, starting only in 1958 with J. O. Urmson’s seminal article, “Saints and Heroes.”

The Latin etymology of “supererogation” is paying out more than is due (super-erogare), and the term first appears in the Latin version of the New Testament in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Although we often believe that Good Samaritanism is praiseworthy and non-obligatory at the same time, philosophical reflection raises the question whether there can be any morally good actions that are not morally required, and even if there are such actions, how come they are optional or supererogatory. Thus, the substantial literature on supererogation since the 1960s demonstrates that even though the class of actions beyond duty is relatively small and the philosophical attention paid to it is only recent, the status of supererogation in ethical theory is important in exposing deep problems about the nature of duty and its limits, the relationship between duty and value, the role of ideals and excuses in ethical judgment, the nature of moral reasons, and the connection between actions and virtue. Supererogation raises interesting problems both on the meta-ethical level of deontic logic and on the normative level of the justification of moral demands.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/supererogation/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

“Making satisfaction in and of ourselves would require obedience beyond what we already owe God. Our entire future is already His; He has rightful claim on it. And we might know that there are no reverse mortgages in the kingdom of God, according to Anselm. We have nothing extra or suprarogatory by which we might satisfy God’s justice. There are no extra or super-added works that somehow earn us extra credit.” R. Michael Allen
Allen, R. M. (2020). TH261 Doctrine of Salvation. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.