African philosophical values of harmony and vitality have much to offer our thinking about what we owe to ourselves

by Thaddeus Metz  BIO

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo by Chantal Pinzi/Panos Pictures

is research professor of philosophy at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. His most recent books include A Relational Moral Theory: African Ethics in and Beyond the Continent (2022) and What Makes Life Meaningful? A Debate (2024), co-authored with Joshua W Seachris.

Usually when we think about how to act, we consider what we owe to others. May I break this promise that I made? How much should I donate to charity? Would I do wrong not to pay for the expensive operation my cat needs? However, we can, it seems, also owe ourselves certain treatment. We owe it to ourselves not to get addicted to opioids and (if we are not terrible people) not to hate ourselves. Some might owe it to themselves to finish that higher degree they started or to cultivate their budding talent at being a gymnast.

But some thinkers are sceptical that there are any genuine duties to oneself, for instance, because what might appear to be an obligation for one’s own sake is, ultimately, a way towards justice for others. Are there genuine obligations to oneself? If so, how must we treat ourselves? Is there anything that all or most duties to oneself have in common?

In what follows, I provide answers to these questions. I do so at times by drawing on perspectives that are salient in some philosophies from the Global South, especially the African tradition. There are ideals pertaining to harmony and vitality that are prominent there, but that are under-considered by contemporary Western philosophers, and promise to shed light on how one ought to treat oneself in the course of a life.

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There are two big reasons to doubt that there are, in fact, any duties to oneself. What seems like a situation in which one can owe oneself something may turn out, upon reflection, to be something else. The first sceptical line is that what seem like duties to oneself are instead merely counsels for one’s happiness. Those who are addicted to drugs will be miserable when they run out of them. Hating yourself is hardly a source of joy. Getting educated is well known for earning a higher income, while becoming skilled at a sport would be a source of pride. These actions are not, so the argument goes, what one must do morally; they are simply what one would be wise to do in pursuit of satisfaction.

It is true that sometimes fulfilling what might be thought to be a duty to oneself will avoid misery and produce contentment, but not always. Suppose that you have a steady supply of heroin available. You know you will never run out and so will not have to confront the pain of withdrawal. Even so, you owe it to yourself not to spend major parts of your days in a pleasant haze or asleep after the initial ‘rush’, and not to be physiologically steered into putting the drug above all else. Satisfaction isn’t the only consideration.

Feeling guilty about how you’re treating yourself is a strong sign that you are doing yourself an injustice

A second reason to doubt that there really are duties to oneself is that, while one might have obligations to treat oneself a certain way, ultimately that is because doing so will enable you to do right by others. If you are addicted to heroin, you are not helping your family as much as you could have been, and might even be stealing from them.

However, it becomes harder to continue this reasoning when it comes to gymnastics, for instance. If cultivating athletic talent is something you can owe yourself, it is not merely because it will make other people better off down the road. How could it, unless you were one of the very rare few able to entertain spectators or care for a family from it? In addition, it would be natural for someone to feel guilty for not finishing that dissertation, where they would feel guilt not so much because of what they owe others (imagine no one else has a stake) but instead because of what they owe themselves. Feeling guilty about how you’re treating yourself is a strong sign that you are doing yourself an injustice.

Suppose, then, that duties to oneself do exist. What are they? It would be a tall order to provide a list of literally all of them. However, if readers are willing to accept that one can owe it to oneself to avoid addiction and hating oneself, and to get an education and develop athletic ability, then they’ll be sympathetic to these additional self-regarding duties:

Not to spend much time watching sitcoms while drinking beer alone.

Not to associate with those who humiliate you.

Not to be overly dependent on others’ guidance or approval.

Not to get into large debt for inessentials.

Not to engage in wishful thinking or self-deception.

Not to feel an unreasonable amount of guilt.

Not to cut one’s arms or stomach to stave off emotional pains.

Not to take one’s own life to avoid temporary burdens.

To let others love you or help you.

To sustain your health.

To strive to overcome personality disorders or........

© Aeon