What Is Duty?

What is duty? Duty is what a human is actively obliged to do (eg to help), or is negatively required not to do (eg not to kill). Duties can be natural (eg duty to ourselves), parental (eg duty to the family), occupational (eg counsel's duty to the court), legal (eg duty of care to our neighbours), or moral (eg duty to do good in society).

There are imperfect duties ie duties that permit us to choose among options in fulfilling them (eg regarding our moral duties to do good to society, we can choose from a range of options from education to innovation). There are perfect duties ie duties that do not have fulfilling options (eg our legal duties not to kill anyone). Instinctively, we know our perfect negative duties, and we only choose when fulfilling our imperfect duties (eg the kind of voluntary or pro bono work that we would do).

As a human being, I have a natural duty to create and deliver value (eg I discipline myself in that direction). As a son, husband and father, I have my imperfect parental duties as to how to play my role in the family (eg ensuring sufficient financial provisions). As a practising barrister, I have my occupational duty to my clients, my opponents, and the court to act with candour and independence in the interests of justice.

To live and let live, we all have to fulfill our legal duties to care and not to harm others, and we all have our moral duties to do good to society. Some lone souls might believe that such duties are too burdensome to them and behave in inhuman ways. A human who fails to fulfill the duties, despite the physical form and life experience, has already become "something else" that the "human" himself cannot stand!

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