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Obligation
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{{Short description|Course of action someone must take}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} An '''obligation''' is a course of action which someone is required to take, be it a [[legal obligation]] or a [[moral obligation]]. 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Obligation, a social theory|last=Ross|first=Ralph|publisher=Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press|year=1970|isbn=0472087657|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/obligationsocial0000ross}}</ref> 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.<ref>Old Bear, ''Sacred Journey of the Medicine Wheel'' (2008), p. 393: "Adults have more obligations and are held to higher standards of accountability than children are".</ref> Obligations are generally granted in return for an increase in an individual's rights or power.
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