An obligation is a course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral. Obligations are constraints; they limit freedom. People who are under obligations may choose to freely act under obligations. Obligation exists when there is a choice to do what is morally good and what is morally unacceptable. There are also obligations in other normative contexts, such as obligations of etiquette, social obligations, religious and possibly in terms of politics, where obligations are requirements which must be fulfilled. These are generally legal obligations, which can incur a penalty for non-fulfilment, although certain people are obliged to carry out certain actions for other reasons as well, whether as a tradition or for social reasons. Obligations vary from person to person: for example, a person holding a political office will generally have far more obligations than an average adult citizen, who themselves will have more obligations than a child. Obligations are generally granted in return for an increase in an individual's rights or power.
Other uses
The term obligate can also be used in a biological context, in reference to species which must occupy a certain niche or behave in a certain way in order to survive. In biology, the opposite of obligate is facultative, meaning that a species is able to behave in a certain way and may do so under certain circumstances, but that it can also survive without having to behave this way. For example, species of salamanders in the family Proteidae are obligate paedomorphs, whereas species belonging to the Ambystomatidae are facultative paedomorphs. In the Catholic Church, Holy Days of Obligation or Holidays of Obligation, less commonly called Feasts of Precept, are the days on which, as canon 1247 of the Code of Canon Law states, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass.
Obligation and morality
An obligation is contract between an individual and the thing or person to what or whom they are obligated. If the contract is breached the individual can be subject to blame. When entering into an obligation people generally do not think about the guilt that they would experience if the obligation is not fulfilled, instead they think about how they can fulfill the obligation. Rationalists argue that people respond in this way because they have a reason to fulfill the obligation. According to the sanction theory, an obligation corresponds to the social pressures one feels, and is not simply derived from a singlular relationship with another person or project. In the rationalist argument this same pressure adds to the reasons people have, thereby strengthening their desire to fulfill the obligation. The sanction theory states that there needs to be a sanction in order for a duty to be a moral duty.
Sociologists believe that obligations lead people to act in ways that society deems acceptable. Every society has their own way of governing, they expect their citizens to behave in a particular manner. Not only do the citizens have to oblige to the societal norms, they want to, in order to assimilate to society. Philosophers on the other hand, argue that rational beings have moral duties, they make a choice to either fulfill these moral duties or disregard them. They have a moral responsibility to fulfill their obligations. Duty is seen as the response to an individual's obligations. Obligations require an action being done and duty is the carrying out of this action. Sociologists believe that an obligation is an objective force, philosophers however, believe obligations are moral imperatives.
Types of obligations
Written obligations
Written obligations are contracts. They legally bind two people into an agreement. Each person becomes responsible for doing their part of the contract. A legal contract consists of an offer, an acceptance of that offer, an intention to bind to one another in a legal agreement and a consideration, something of value to be exchanged.
Political obligation
A political obligation is a requirement for the citizens of a society to follow the laws of that society. There are philosophical issues however, about whether or not a citizen should follow a law simply because it is a law. There are various views about whether or not a political obligation is a moral obligation. John Rawls argues that people do have political obligations because of the principle of fairness. Humanity benefits from the joint effort of the government so in fairness, they should be active and supportive members of this effort. There are people however, such as Robert Nozick, who argue that enjoyment of a community effort does not mean obligation to that effort.
Social obligation
Social obligations refer to the things we as individuals accept because it is collectively accepted. When people agree to a promise or an agreement, they are collectively consenting to the terms of that agreement or promise. Humanity is obligated to fulfill that promise or agreement.
