Abstract

The paper proposes a radical rethinking of the foundations of morality by developing a conception of freedom as intrinsically obligatory. In contrast to approaches that derive duty from rationality or reduce it to social conventions, it argues that the normative force of moral requirements arises from the distinctive ontological status of freedom. By distinguishing the "natural" freedom to choose means from the "social" freedom to determine one’s ends, the paper shows that the pursuit of the social freedom itself gives rise to universal moral principles. Thus, freedom and morality are interdependent: obligation is a constitutive mode of the free agent’s being, and morality is a necessary condition for the realization of freedom.