ABSTRACT
Philosophers generally use "moral obligation" as a synonym for "moral requirement" or "moral duty," to signify acts it would be morally wrong not to do. Bipolar obligations always involve a relation between two "poles": an agent who is obligated and an individual, group, etc., to whom she is obligated, tied, or bound. Bipolar obligations involve a distinctive second-personal relation between obligor and obligee that includes the obligee's being warranted in addressing certain demands to the obligor on his own behalf and at his own discretion and in holding the obligor personally accountable. The metaethics of bipolar obligations involves a distinctive species of second-personal authority, which cannot exist without the existence of representative authority also. The distinctive second-personal authority involved in bipolar obligations is individual authority, whereas that involved in moral obligation period is representative authority. These are different species of second-personal authority.
