Civic duty
Duty is also often perceived as something owed to one's country (patriotism), or to one's homeland or community. Civic duties could include: * Obey the law * Pay taxes * Provide for a common defense, should the need arise * Enroll to vote, and vote at all elections and referendums (unless there is a reasonable excuse such as a religious objection, being overseas, or illness on polling day) * Serve on a jury, if called upon * Go to the aid of victims of accidents and street crime and testifying as a witness later in court * Report contagious illnesses or pestilence to public-health authorities * Volunteer for public services (e.g. life-saving drills) * Donate blood periodically or when needed * Give time to voice advice on a relevant field of expertise, benefits, workplace improvements and on how it is conducted or run * Revolt against an unjust governmentDuties of employment
Specific obligations arise in the services performed by a minister of a church, by a soldier, or by anyLegal duties
Examples of legal duties include: * Duty of care * Duty of candour * Duty to defend and duty to settle, in insurance * Duty to pay tax (for instance: import duty) * Duty to rescue * Duty to retreat * Duty to report a felony * Duty to vote (in countries with mandatory voting) * Duty to warn * Fiduciary duties * Duty to care for children as legal guardian (opposite of child neglect) * Special duties created by a contract * '' In loco parentis'' (duty like a parent to child towards nonhuman entities, such as animals, river, environment, etc. e.g. by treating them asFilial duty
In most cultures, children are expected to take on duties in relation to their families. This may take the form of behaving in such a way that upholds the family's honor in the eyes of the community, entering into arranged marriages that benefit the family's status, or caring for ailing relatives. This family-oriented sense of duty is a particularly central aspect to the teachings ofIn various cultures
Duty varies between different cultures and continents. Duty in Asia and Latin America is commonly more heavily weighted than inAsian and Latin American adolescents possessed stronger values and greater expectations regarding their duty to assist, respect, and support their families than their peers with European backgrounds.The deeply rooted tradition of duty among both Asian and Latin American cultures contributes to much of the strong sense of duty that exists in comparison to western cultures. Michael Peletz discusses the concept of duty in his book ''Gender, Sexuality, and Body Politics in Modern Asia'':
Notions of filial duty … are commonly invoked to mobilize the loyalties, labor power, and other resources children in the ostensible interests of the household and, in some cases, those of the lineage clan as a whole. Doctrines of filial piety … attuned to them may thus be a source of great comfort and solace to the elders but they can also be experienced as stressful, repressive, or both by those who are enjoined to honor their parents’ (and grandparents’) wishes and unspoken expectations.An arranged marriage is an example of an expected duty in Asia and the Middle East. In an arranged marriage relating to duty, it is expected that the wife will move in with the husband's family and household to raise their children. Patrilocal residence is usual; rarely does the man move in with the woman, or is the married couple allowed to start their own household and life somewhere else. They need to provide for the entire family in labor and care for the farms and family. Older generations rely on help from their children's and grandchildren's families. This form of duty is keeping the lineage of a family intact and obliging to the needs of elders.
Philosophical perspectives
Epictetus
In his ''Discourses'', Epictetus employs the analogy of the human foot to elucidate the moral significance of duty: "Do you not know, that as a foot is no longer a foot if it is detached from the body, so you are no longer a man if you are separated from other men." Just as a human foot may sometimes get dirty or pierced by thorns in service to the body, individuals must also fulfil their roles, even if it entails facing sickness, perilous journeys, or premature death. Epictetus states, "It is your duty then, since you are come here, to say what you ought, to arrange these things as it is fit."Marcus Aurelius
It is thy duty to order thy life well in every single act; and if every act does its duty, as far as is possible, be content; and no one is able to hinder thee so that each act shall not do its duty.- But something external will stand in the way.- Nothing will stand in the way of thy acting justly and soberly and considerately.- But perhaps some other active power will be hindered.- Well, but by acquiescing in the hindrance and by being content to transfer thy efforts to that which is allowed, another opportunity of action is immediately put before thee in place of that which was hindered, and one which will adapt itself to this ordering of which we are speaking.Similar to Epictetus, he emphasises the importance of duty for humans beings in their social dimension, but goes further by grounding duty in rationality. Marcus traces the origins of social obligation through a logical progression, viewing duty as stemming from the shared human capacity to reason: "which commands us what to do, and what not to do; if this is so, we are fellow-citizens; if this is so, we are members of some political community." This connection between reason and duty is highlighted too in Book VI, where he states: "I do my duty: other things trouble me not; for they are either things without life, or things without reason, or things that have rambled and know not the way." In fact, earlier in the ''Meditations'', Marcus expresses concern about the decline of cognitive abilities with age as it affects the fulfilment of duty, noting that "the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first," which weakens "the power of making use of ourselves, and filling up the measure of our duty." He also urges readers to derive their sense of duty from within, rather than from external pressures, encouraging them to "stand erect; not be kept erect by others" and to "Labour not unwillingly, nor without regard to the common interest". Marcus repeatedly comes back to duty as a concept grounded in the human mind, but he does not ignore its social component, advising the reader to accept help, just as a lame solder ought to when fulfilling his duty to climb the battlements during a siege.
Nietzsche
Ayn Rand
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.'"See also
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External links
* {{Authority control Contract law Deontology Concepts in ethics Tort law Virtue