RESEARCH BASE
Search 3,721 documents across 34 fields — every claim tier-rated by evidence
3,633 are the core, quality-scored corpus (34 lettered sections — see How We Work); the remaining 88 are cross-corpus synthesis documents (68 InterDocs, 12 Connections, 8 Theories) also indexed here.
9 results for "promissory obligation"
ZE_5_14 — Ethics of Promise and Contract: Trust, Binding Words, and Obligation
Promise-keeping is among the most fundamental moral obligations — yet its philosophical basis is surprisingly elusive. Why does uttering certain words ("I promise") create a binding moral obligation? The question has gen
ZC_4_01 — Gift Economy and Reciprocity
The gift economy — a system of exchange in which goods and services are transferred without explicit agreement for immediate return, yet create bonds of obligation, reciprocity, and social hierarchy — has been one of the
P_2_11 — Deontological Ethics: Duty, Rights, and the Categorical Imperative
Deontological ethics (from Greek deon, "duty" or "obligation") is the family of moral theories holding that the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on the action's conformity to moral rules, duties, or rights — n
P_2_06 — Political Philosophy: Justice, Power, and Authority
Political philosophy examines the nature of justice, power, authority, and the proper organization of collective human life. Plato (Republic, c. 375 BCE) argued that justice consists in each part of the soul and the city
ZE_5_05 — Ethics of Civil Disobedience: Thoreau, Gandhi, King, and Nonviolent Resistance
Civil disobedience — the deliberate, public, nonviolent violation of law undertaken to protest injustice and appeal to the moral conscience of the community — occupies a distinctive position in political ethics. It is no
ZE_5_13 — Ethics of Charity and Philanthropy: Effective Altruism and Duty to Give
The ethics of charity and philanthropy interrogates the moral obligations of the wealthy toward the poor, the effectiveness and legitimacy of charitable giving as a response to poverty, and the emerging movement of effec
ZE_4_11 — Philosophy of Resistance: Civil Disobedience and Dissent
The philosophy of resistance — the ethical, political, and practical dimensions of civil disobedience, conscientious objection, nonviolent direct action, and revolutionary dissent — addresses one of the most fundamental
ZE_4_13 — Ethics of Wealth and Poverty: Rawls, Nozick, Singer, and Distributive Justice
The ethics of wealth and poverty asks one of the most consequential moral questions: What do the affluent owe the poor? And, more broadly, what constitutes a just distribution of resources? Three towering 20th-century ph
ZE_1_07 — Social Contract Theory
Social contract theory holds that political authority and moral/political obligations are grounded in an agreement — actual or hypothetical — among individuals to form a society and accept governance. The theory addresse
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