Self-constraint: a Challenge for the Contemporary Ethics

Abstract

The paper deals with issues related to self-constraint examined in the context of the social, environmental or economic threats and challenges generated by the contemporary civilization. The ability to limit one’s own needs, and hence the issue of reasonable use of goods is nothing new for ethics. However, after having realized the finite nature of natural resources, growing economic disproportions, and especially the exceeding consumption, that problem gains importance and calls for recapitulation. The article, based on references to alternative models of consumers’ behavior (substantive consumption, voluntary simplicity) and sustainable strategies of development (degrowth), provides an argument why reflection on self-constraint is one of the key areas of ethical reflection today. Self-constraint was presented as specifically human, voluntary, and individual approach of the moral agent towards other people and the natural environment.