Meaning of the word duty

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This article is about the ethical concept. For other uses, see Duty (disambiguation).

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.

Cicero, an early Roman philosopher who discusses duty in his work “On Duty», suggests that duties can come from four different sources:^[1]

1. as a result of being a human
2. as a result of one’s particular place in life (one’s family, one’s country, one’s job)
3. as a result of one’s character
4. as a result of one’s own moral expectations for oneself

The specific duties imposed by law or culture vary considerably, depending on jurisdiction, religion, and social normalities.

Civic duty[edit]

Duty^[2] 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
• Duty of revolution against an unjust government

Duties of employment[edit]

Specific obligations arise in the services performed by a minister of a church, by a soldier, or by any employee or servant.^[3]

Examples:

• Dereliction of duty is an offense in U.S. military law
• Duty to protect, in medicine
• In loco parentis, for schools
• Professional responsibility for lawyers

Legal duties[edit]

Examples of legal duties include:

• Duty of care
• Duty of candour
• Duty to defend and duty to settle, in insurance
• 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 as legal person.^[4]

Filial duty[edit]

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 of Confucius, and is known as xiao, or filial piety. As such, the duties of filial piety have played an enormous role in the lives of people in eastern Asia for centuries. For example, the painting Lady Feng and the Bear, from ancient China, depicts the heroic act of a consort of the emperor placing herself between her husband and a rampaging bear. This is meant to be taken as an example of admirable filial behavior. Filial piety is considered so important that in some cases, it outweighs other cardinal virtues: In a more modern example, «concerns with filial piety of the same general sort that motivate women to engage in factory work in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and elsewhere in Asia are commonly cited by Thai prostitutes as one of their primary rationales for working in the skin trade».^[5] The importance of filial piety can be expressed in this quote from the Analects of Confucius: «Yu Tzu said, ‘It is rare for a man whose character is such that he is good as a son and obedient as a young man to have the inclination to transgress against his superiors; it is unheard of for one who has no such inclination to be inclined to start a rebellion. The gentleman devotes his efforts to the roots, for once the roots are established, the Way will grow there from. Being good as a son and obedient as a young man is, perhaps, the root of a man’s character'».^{[citation needed]}

In various cultures[edit]

Duty varies between different cultures and continents. Duty in Asia and Latin America is commonly more heavily weighted than in Western culture. According to a study done on attitudes toward family obligation:

«Asian 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».^[6]

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».^[7]

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 heavily on the help from their children’s and grandchildren’s families. This form of duty is in response to keeping the lineage of a family intact and obliging to the needs of elders.

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”?» (The Antichrist, § 11)

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. (Twilight of the Idols, “Skirmishes of an untimely man” § 9.29)

Arthur Schopenhauer’s writings, among them On the Basis of Morality, had a profound effect on Nietzsche and led him to a series of inversions to show that morality was not based in «compassion or sympathy» but in life overcoming itself through the will to power. Among these inversions «duty» and «pity,» from 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.'»^[8]

See also[edit]

• Deontological ethics
• Dharma
• Filial piety
• Mitzvah
• Morality

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Duty on In Our Time at the BBC
• Duty and Moral Worth

The etymology of the word duty lies in the Latin, in the word “debēre” and this of “dehibere” composed of the prefix “de” which means “withdrawal or deprivation” in addition to the verb “habere” which means “have”. Duty is understood as the obligation, commitment or moral responsibility that concerns each person and that is based on acting under the principles of morality, justice or their own conscience.That is, it is what the human being is obliged to, either because it has been imposed as a moral, legal, religious norm or simply by custom; and if he does not comply with these legal norms, he could be punished respectively according to what the law of that jurisdiction stipulates, which may be with prison or with fines; On the other hand, if moral duties are not fulfilled, it will be the conscience of each individual through remorse that is in charge of being a judge.

The word duty is usually related to morality, reason, virtue, ethics and righteousness, since it alludes to forms or actions of behavior of an individual that have been socially established throughout the history of humanity, as appropriate or pertinent for certain situations or actions that, without these, society could not have order, harmony, or meaning. Each person must fulfill certain duties that are established for him such as children must fulfill their tasks, respect their parents or their elders, perform certain tasks stipulated by other people with authority over them; and also adults must fulfill certain duties such as working, respecting and complying with traffic regulations, paying taxes among many other tasks.

Finally, it is important to note that the dictionary of the royal academy defines this word as what man is obliged to, either by religious precepts or natural or positive laws. In addition, it is also called duty when a person owns a debt and is in the obligation to cancel it.

Ross thinks that duty proper, as he calls it, is a quite different sort of thing from a prima facie duty; the notion of ˜duty™ in ˜prima facie duty™ is a different notion from that in ˜duty proper™. ❋ Dancy, Jonathan (2009)

In the duty of accumulation — and I call it a _duty_, in the most strict and literal signification of that word — all below a competence is most valuable, and its acquisition most laudable; but all above a fortune is a misfortune. ❋ Benj. N. Martin (N/A)

«I know that Elise has a conscience that will hold her fast to duty,» said Benigna, but she did not speak hopefully: she spoke deliberately, however, thinking that these words _conscience_ and _duty_ might arrest the minister’s attention, and that he would perhaps, by some means, throw light upon questions which were constantly becoming more perplexing to her. ❋ Various (N/A)

Then it becomes our duty to screen not only the advance of our own troops and to secure to our Infantry the advantages of being able to advance undisturbed, but the climax of all these duties will be reached _in the far more important duty_, in the now indispensable task, of securing the _widest possible sphere of intelligence_. ❋ Friedrich Von Bernhardi (1889)

Patsey, who always says, «We are prompted by a deep sense of duty, my dear, _duty_!» ❋ George Douglass Sherley (1887)

The meaning in this case is no doubt clear enough, and the words «awful duty» may be the right ones; but had they stood _lawful duty_ in any old copy, he should have been a bold man who would have proposed to substitute ❋ Various (1852)

She was quite sure that she felt no desire to shrink from duty, however humble, but she sighed for some comforting assurance of what _was duty_. ❋ H. Trusta (1833)

The flames of war are already kindled — they are gathering along our coast and threatening upon out frontiers; the duty — the common duty* therefore, of Ameri. can citizens is, to use all means in their power, to bring the contest to the most speedy and most favourable issue. ❋ Unknown (1812)

And having deduced ‘that good of man which is private and particular, as far as seemeth fit,’ he returns ‘to that good of man which respects and beholds society,’ which he terms DUTY, because the term of duty is more proper to a mind well framed and disposed towards others, as the term of VIRTUE is applied to a mind well formed and composed in itself; though neither can a man understand _virtue, without some relation to society_, nor _duty, without an inward disposition_. ❋ Delia Bacon (1835)

Being derelict in duty is another matter entirely. ❋ Unknown (2009)

They sure «realize that their main duty is to raise lots of White children.» ❋ Intertribal (2010)

Well, I propose that we all become cantankerous naysayers whose main duty is simply to remind all who will listen that those of us who are comfortably settled atop the pyramid of our unequal society, are always ready to talk about ❋ Unknown (2001)

The term duty to oneself, when it means anything more than prudence, means self-respect or self-development; and for none of these is any one accountable to his fellow-creatures, because for none of them is it for the good of mankind that he be held accountable to them. ❋ Unknown (2002)

The definition of the term duty given by lexicographers is: ❋ 1840-1916 (1913)

The term duty to oneself, when it means anything more than prudence, means self-respect or self-development; and for none of these is any one accountable to his fellow creatures, because for none of them is it for the good of mankind that he be held accountable to them. 6 ❋ Unknown (1869)

The word duty is, sadly, considered a little outmoded today but it is something that has defined her very existence from the moment she took her coronation vows all those years ago. ❋ Unknown (2011)

Thespecialone wrote … swearing at a police officer in the execution of his/her duty is an arrestable offence. ❋ Inspector Gadget (2009)

MarkUK — swearing at a police officer in the execution of his/her duty is an arrestable offence. ❋ Inspector Gadget (2009)

Marine: [Woot woot]!!! It’s Christmas, time to go home!!!
1stSgt: [Oh fuck no]! You have duty [Christmas day], don’t bother going home.
Marine:FML. ❋ Jmusmc85 (2010)

Person 1: IT IS YOUR [DUTY]!
[Person 2]: [Hahaha]……… [duty]. ❋ Domki366 (2013)

[Hold on] I [have to] [take] a duty. ❋ Nick (2003)

[Ahahah]. [Duty]. Ahahah. [Diarrhea]. ❋ Didda Tinkle (2004)

u [gettin] on duty [later]? ❋ Callofduty1 (2010)

me and [rob] were [cracking up] all day about duties
[Rob]: [Lucas] have you performed your duties?? ❋ JahLove (2008)

[My hair] [looks like] [duty] today, ❋ JWMW.xo (2009)

He was not [hesitant] do his [duty] in church today.
[In the Navy] I was proud to do my duty. ❋ DrewPdrawers (2011)

«[er] [thats] [duty]» ❋ Blacktionman (2003)

1) i am [duty] on that game [blud]
2)that [tune] is duty ❋ Mansake (2008)

обязанность, долг, пошлина, служба, дежурный, служебный, официальный

существительное ↓

Словосочетания

a grim man loving duty more than humanity — мрачный человек, любящий долг больше, чем людей  
a tractor suitable (or fit) for heavy duty — трактор, который подходит для работы в тяжёлых условиях эксплуатации  
in bounden duty — по долгу, по чувству долга  
to collect duty — взимать пошлину  
derelict in one’s duty — нарушающий свои обязанности  
dereliction of duty — нарушение долга  
duty of diligence — обязанность проявлять старательность  
civic duty — гражданский долг  
moral duty — моральный долг  
sense of duty — чувство долга  
to contract a duty — принять на себя обязанность  
course of duty — исполнение служебных обязанностей  

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): duty
мн. ч.(plural): duties