system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are normative statements ('I ought to do x, or I should do x) future tense or present tense?

That is, are they saying something about the future or the current moment in time? And if they are future tense, does that mean that we cannot have certainty about normative statements, given that we can only predict the future?

If I say 'I should wear a raincoat because it is raining outside,' am I talking about my behavior in the future, or am I saying something more timeless and universal-- like a declaration of a general rule that is to be followed under certain conditions?
gpt
This is interesting. “Ought” is an auxiliary verb that doesn’t have tense variations; the tense of the statement is given by other features of the sentence. Consider the following statements:

1. “You ought to push the red button.”
2. “You ought to be pushing the red button.”
3. “You ought to have pushed the red button.”
4. You ought to help old ladies cross the street.

2 is present-tensed. 3 is past-tense. 

1 and 4 are interesting, because it seems grammatically that they should be the same tense, but 1 is future-tensed, and 4 more universal. This seems to carry over from the generality of the action. Notice “You ought to read Plato” could be read like 1 or 4 depending upon context.

Also, 2 seems most naturally read about the near future. Compare 

6. “Next week, you ought to push the red button.”

I note that we can say “You ought always x” and “You ought never x”, which both are general like 5, but you wouldn’t say “You ought always help old ladies cross the street”, whereas you could say “You ought always help those in need.” I’m not sure what’s going on there.

Finally, “It will be the case that you ought to push the red button” is grammatically correct, so think, but doesn’t sound like something anyone would say. I’m not sure what’s going on there either.