Duty
A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; Old French: deu, did, past participle of devoir; Latin: debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, especially in an honor culture. Many duties are created by law, sometimes including a codified punishment or liability for non-performance. Performing one's duty may require some sacrifice of self-interest.
This article is about the ethical concept. For other uses, see Duty (disambiguation).
A sense-of-duty is also a virtue or personality trait that characterizes someone who is diligent about fulfilling individual duties or who confidently knows their calling. A sense-of-duty can also come from a need to fulfill familial pressures and desires. This is typically seen in a militaristic/patriotic way.[1]
Cicero, an early Roman philosopher who discusses duty in his work “On Duties", suggests that duties can come from four different sources:[2]
The specific duties imposed by law or culture vary considerably, depending on jurisdiction, religion, and social normalities.
Duty is also often perceived as something owed to one's country (patriotism), or to one's homeland or community.[3] Civic duties could include:
Specific obligations arise in the services performed by a minister of a church, by a soldier, or by any employee or servant.[4]
Examples:
Examples of legal duties include:
Criticisms of the concept[edit]
Nietzsche[edit]
Friedrich Nietzsche is among the fiercest critics of the concept of duty. "What destroys a man more quickly", he asks, "than to work, think, and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure—as a mere automaton of 'duty'?"[8]
Nietzsche claims that the task of all higher education is "to turn men into machines". The way to turn men into machines is to teach them to tolerate boredom. This is accomplished, Nietzsche says, by means of the concept of duty.[9]
The writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, including On the Basis of Morality, greatly influenced Nietzsche. These influences led Nietzsche to undertake a series of inversions, challenging the idea that morality stemmed from "compassion or sympathy." Instead, Nietzsche asserted that morality was rooted in life's self-overcoming through the will to power. As part of these inversions, Nietzsche explored concepts like "duty" and "pity", previously discussed by Immanuel Kant and Schopenhauer respectively.
Ayn Rand[edit]
Ayn Rand, a youthful admirer of Nietzsche, anchored her morality against Kant's notion of duty. "In a deontological theory, all personal desires are banished from the realm of morality; a personal desire has no moral significance, be it a desire to create or a desire to kill. For example, if a man is not supporting his life from duty, such a morality makes no distinction between supporting it by honest labor or by robbery. If a man wants to be honest, he deserves no moral credit; as Kant would put it, such honesty is 'praiseworthy,' but without 'moral import.'"[10]