What is "obligation?"
You always choose...
[The image—just for scale—is of the planet-forming process around a star in the constellation Orion, 640 light years distant from Earth…]
The “lig-” syllable in “obligation” is from the same Latin word in “religion:” ligare, meaning “to tie or bind”
So “obligation” literally means to be tied to, or bound up with…
Thus the question becomes: what am I bound to do by way of fulfilling any “obligaton”?
Most “obligations” seem to be imposed by our attachments: to parents or siblings for example, or to partners or children; that is, they seem to be duties
However, neither duties nor obligations are imposed (except in the special cases of legal duties required of parents or officials)
Apart from behavior required by law, all other obligations are chosen; that is, we each impose them upon ourselves by not questioning the expectations of others (such as relatives, friends, etc.)
The choice to submit to expectations is concealed by moral rules and social practice; this is because human life has no necessary structure: that is, no instinctive or inherited forms of social behavior
(One piece of evidence for this last claim is that we celebrate as heroic any example of a person overcoming instinct to take action that threatens one’s life)
“Acting on obligations” is sometimes also celebrated, thus confirming the fact that I have to choose so to act; criticism of one’s failure to act on obligation makes the same point
So, why do I choose to feel obligated? Chiefly to conform to others’ expectations or to avoid the disapproval that non-conformity might arouse
A final point: “non-conformity” frequently provokes antagonism, thus dramatizing the role that “social cohesion” plays in covering up the fact that we always have a choice…
[I chose the astronomical image above to illustrate this argument in order to dramatize the contrast between the scale of human affairs & the scale of being itself…]