A thorough philosophical inquiry into supererogation would need to deal with the following four questions. What is the nature of supererogation? Are supererogatory acts possible? Do they actually occur? Are those acts that we commonly call supererogatory in fact supererogatory? There is a certain progression to these questions. Establishing the nature of supererogation does not ensure that supererogatory acts are possible. (Compare inquiring into the nature of a squircle and establishing that it is a square circle.) Establishing the possibility of supererogatory acts does not ensure their actuality. Establishing their actuality does not ensure that those acts that we commonly call supererogatory are in fact so.
