Duty

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.

[3] Civic duties could include: Specific obligations arise in the services performed by a minister of a church, by a soldier, or by any employee or servant.

[clarification needed] Filial piety is considered so important that in some cases, it outweighs other cardinal virtues:[clarification needed] In a 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".

[clarification needed] 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.

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.

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.

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.

"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'?

As part of these inversions, Nietzsche explored concepts like "duty" and "pity", previously discussed by Immanuel Kant and Schopenhauer respectively.

[citation needed] Ayn Rand, a youthful admirer of Nietzsche, anchored her morality against Kant's notion of duty.