Are there any moral constraints on self-regarding conduct? Many moral philosophers believe that wrong actions necessarily affect persons other than the agent. This point of view is frequently associated with a common distinction between prudence and morality. It is said that prudence applies to one's consideration of one's own interests, while morality concerns effects on the rights and interests of other persons. Another commonly accepted view is that there are no duties or obligations to oneself. Marcus Singer insists that what are called "duties to oneself" are either not moral duties at all or else not duties to oneself. 1 Another prevailing opinion is that it is impermissible for government and society to restrict freedom, the exercise of which harms only the agent. John Stuart Mill is thought by many to have shown that such are the proper limits of social and legal control over human beings.: In general, it is widely believed that self-regarding actions are sometimes foolish and imprudent but never morally reprehensible.
In this paper I dispute most of these views. I try to show why it is reasonable to think that one can treat oneself wrongly and violate one's own rights. I also suggest a different way of making the distinction between prudence and morality. Though the point of view is fundamentally Kantian, the position I defend is consonant with a variety of ethical theories. Kant sharply distinguished prudence and morality; but he thought that moral requirements govern self-regarding conduct, and that there are duties to oneself extending beyond prudence. 3 His emphasis on the universal character of moral principles demands some such view. And the idea of universality suggests a clue as to why there are moral constraints on some self-regarding actions.
Moral rules and principles apply to everyone's treatment of everyone. Suppose that an adequate moral theory would establish that killing human beings and causing them intense suffering are generally wrong. If such acts are wrong, they are wrong for everyone; human beings ought not to be treated in these ways by