this: duty in ethics

Cicero is an early philosopher who acknowledged this possibility. He discusses duty in his work “On Duty." He suggests that duties can come from four different sources:

1. It is a result of being human
2. It is a result of one's particular place in life (your family, your country, your job)
3. It is a result of one's character
4. One's own moral expectations for oneself can generate duties

From the root idea of obligation to serve or give something in return, involved in the conception of duty, have sprung various derivative uses of the word; thus it is used of the services performed by a minister of a church, by a soldier, or by any employee or servant.

Many schools of thought have debated the idea of duty. While many assert mankind's duty on their own terms, some philosophers have absolutely rejected a sense of duty.

See also

• Deontology
• Obligation
• Negligence
• Contract
• Duty of care
• Fiduciary duty