Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T16:19:59.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Obligations to whom, obligations to what? A philosophical perspective on the objects of our obligations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2020

Kati Kish Bar-On*
Affiliation:
The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Yafo, Israel, 6997801. [email protected]://telaviv.academia.edu/KatiKish

Abstract

Tomasello strives to understand the underlying psychology behind the human sense of obligation, but he only addresses a specific kind of obligation: to other human beings. We argue that in order to account for the psychological underpinning of human behavior, one should also consider people's sense of commitment to non-human entities, such as ideals, values, and moral principles.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Frankfurt, H. G. (1982) The importance of what we care about. Synthese 53:257–90 (reprinted in Frankfurt 1988, pp. 80–94).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankfurt, H. G. (1988) The importance of what we care about. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankfurt, H. G. (2004) The reasons of love. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Frankfurt, H. G. (2006) Taking ourselves seriously and getting it right (ed. Satz, D., with comments by Korsgaard, C. M., Bratman, M. E., and Dan-Cohen, M.). Stanford University Press.Google Scholar