Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Philosophy/religion

Join our Philosophy forum to discuss religion and spirituality.

Original poster

Do you have any sense of Duty?

70 replies

ahundredtimes · 27/03/2008 14:17

Does a sense of duty exist anymore?

Do you think it's an outmoded concept or not?

is motherhood a duty?

Is it our duty to be good citizens?

I've written that word four times now - and it still look weird and wrong.

Duty free.

That looks okay.

I was thinking about it today - everyone talks about their rights but never duty.

OP posts:
SueBollyKnickers · 27/03/2008 15:39

100x, yup.

SueBollyKnickers · 27/03/2008 15:40

I look back and I can see where a sense of duty has served me well, to be fair, and yes, it involved a fair amount of self-sacrifice.

scaryteacher · 27/03/2008 15:42

I agree with Barnstaple...duty is what Kant describes as a categorical imperative - doing something because it has to be done, for its' own sake, without ulterior motive. The Armed Forces do have it, thank goodness, and schools are bound by their 'duty of care' to their students.

I think that I have a sense of duty, as well as a sense of responsibility. I don't think that duty is passive; however you could perhaps argue that is stronger than responsibility. People can walk away from their responsibilities, but not from their duties?

Anna8888 · 27/03/2008 15:42

My Jewish mother-out-of-law would say that she has a sense of duty. She certainly outwardly claims to live according to a set of external values (rules) - she attaches huge importance to them and greatly admires people who seemingly adhere to them "better" than she.

But when you scratch the surface it's all very flaky

Original poster
ahundredtimes · 27/03/2008 15:43

Yup to religious sense of duty?

You are my ONE person with a sense of duty. Can you tell me more or do you not want to? I understand if you don't.

OP posts:
Anna8888 · 27/03/2008 15:44

scaryteacher - I think that the phrase "to walk away from one's responsibilities" exists and that the phrase "to walk away from one's duties" doesn't

scaryteacher · 27/03/2008 15:45

100x - do you mean me?

Original poster
ahundredtimes · 27/03/2008 15:46

Oh no! Sorry, x-post, two now.

yes armed forces and perhaps religious folk, because of the adherence to the external framework.

Some people must have a private moral universe, in which duty plays a part.

OP posts:
Original poster
ahundredtimes · 27/03/2008 15:46

No, I was talking to Suebolly below. Sorry.

OP posts:
Original poster
ahundredtimes · 27/03/2008 15:48

Also re duty of care - that's like job descriptions which say 'your duties will include, emptying the cupboard, typing up minutes, overseeing the final copy' or whatever.

That's a bit different. I suppose what I'm after is an internal or moral sense of duty.

OP posts:
SueBollyKnickers · 27/03/2008 15:50

100x, I don't mind. Yes, I think religion plays a part.

scaryteacher · 27/03/2008 15:54

Anna888 - it wasn't about phrases, it was about reality. People can and DO walk away from their responsibilities, or choose to ignore them. A duty to me is something much stronger that one HAS to do; in my case, they are done without reference or adherence to a God, as I am an agnostic bordering on the atheist. If I saw someone in a burning building, it wouldn't be my responsibility but my duty to help. They are different things IMO.

ScienceTeacher · 27/03/2008 15:57

I have a strong sense of duty

Anna8888 · 27/03/2008 15:57

I think that the equivalent phrase might be to shirk one's duty.

See - it's possible.

scaryteacher · 27/03/2008 15:57

As a teacher I don't agree re: duty of care. That is a moral imperative for schools and their staff to care for their students to the best of their ability, whether you like the child and their behaviour or not. If that was a responsibility I could walk away from a child; as it was a duty, I had to keep trying with that child day after day, whatever my personal feelings about them.

scaryteacher · 27/03/2008 16:01

Interestingly, 'shirk' is an unforgiveable sin in Islam. I wonder if that's where the word came from?

Mmmm, if my DH tried to shirk his duty, it would be a court martial and loss of pension!

Original poster
ahundredtimes · 27/03/2008 16:01

Oh okay. But you could walk away, and you would be being irresponsible or unprofessional.

How strong is your sense of self-sacrifice in being a teacher?

OP posts:
SueBollyKnickers · 27/03/2008 16:03

I think you're more likely to find a sense of duty in a job situation than a personal one nowadays, generally speaking.

Duty has stronger overtones to me than responsibility. Like, I gave up uni to look after my dying mother. I had no responsibility to it as such - we could have organized another way, I suppose, but I felt it was my duty to do it myself.

Anna8888 · 27/03/2008 16:03

I have absolutely no feeling of being able to walk away from my responsibilities. That doesn't make them duties, because there is no self-sacrifice - I chose to take on those responsibilities.

barnstaple · 27/03/2008 16:05

Is duty a kind of responsiblity without choice?

DD has just got home and put on the Simpson's Movie. Homer has just had an epiphany and is saying something about other people being as important as he is, that without them he is nothing. Is that something which might clarify the idea of duty? No man is an island etc - I'm not sure you can live that idea without duty being part of it.

HuwEdwards · 27/03/2008 16:07

I think Responsibility suggests that you are doing something because you have a moral obligation, it's sort of in your blood.

Duty suggests that you are doing something that you may have no wish nor desire to and perhaps isn't necessarily the right thing to do.

ScienceTeacher · 27/03/2008 16:08

I think a duty is a debt we have to our families/community/society. We are blessed with certain gifts (knowledge, skills, caring etc.), and we use them to benefit others without expecting anything in return.

It's quite the opposite of giving something in return for receiving something else. What kind of society is that?

ScienceTeacher · 27/03/2008 16:10

There is always a choice, Barnstaple, but with duty there is a strong inner voice urging you to serve, and it is much stronger than the 'can't be arsed'/'what's in it for me' voice telling you not to.

barnstaple · 27/03/2008 16:13

I absolutely agree with what you say about using our gifts/advantages to benefit others. I was brought up to think There but for the grace of God go I. But a lot of people would say that was just being part of a responsible society. I'm not ocnvinced that duty has anything to do with indebtedness.

OrmIrian · 27/03/2008 16:18

Yes. Duty makes you do things that you don't really want to have to do, for no reason other than someone has to do them.

Such as making sure that the unpleasant old woman across the road gets her bins put out on time because she can't manage them herself - inspite of the fact that instinct would have you stuff her into one of them first . Not just for her sake, but because if you didn't there would be overflowing bins in the street. Picking up litter when you see it. Phoning the council because something needs fixing.

Responsibility is more about things that you have chosen to take on - ie your children and your job.

I think.