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The Meaning of Duty

The document discusses the concept of duty as a moral obligation that is both subjective and objective, emphasizing the correlation between rights and duties. It highlights the importance of fulfilling one's duties in relation to the rights of others, particularly in interpersonal relationships. Additionally, it underscores the social dimension of ethics, asserting that individual morality is tied to public welfare and community participation.

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arjhaydiaz024
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41 views12 pages

The Meaning of Duty

The document discusses the concept of duty as a moral obligation that is both subjective and objective, emphasizing the correlation between rights and duties. It highlights the importance of fulfilling one's duties in relation to the rights of others, particularly in interpersonal relationships. Additionally, it underscores the social dimension of ethics, asserting that individual morality is tied to public welfare and community participation.

Uploaded by

arjhaydiaz024
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

ETHICS

THE MEANING OF
DUTY
➢ Duty, taken objectively, is anything we
are bound to do or omit. Taken
subjectively, it is a moral obligation
incumbent upon a person to do, omit, or
avoid something.
➢ Duty is a moral obligation because it
depends upon freewill of the subject
person. And because duty is defined by
law, any willful neglect of a duty makes a
person accountable for such omission
➢ Right and duty are correlative in a given
person. One who has a right to
something has the duty to act consistent
with that right. For instance, the right to
life of a person imposes upon himself the
duty to work for sustaining such life.
➢ Pope John XXIII says “the right of every
person to life is correlative with the duty
of living it becomingly, and his right to
investigate the truth freely, with the duty
of seeking it and possessing it ever more
completely and profoundly”
Encyclical Pacem in Terris, Peace on Earth:
p. 9)
➢ A prevailing error is insisting that other
people respect our rights, while we
ourselves do very little about our duty to
act consistently with such rights. For
example, we claim the right to
➢ freedom of expression or speech without
fulfilling the prior duty of investigating the
facts.
Reciprocity of Rights and Duties
➢ In interpersonal relationships, rights and
duties are reciprocal. The right of one
person implies in another the duty to
respect that right.
➢ Because Pedro has the right to live, other
persons or agencies are duty bound not
to harm him but to help him fulfill such
right.
Reciprocity of Rights and Duties
➢ In interpersonal relationships, rights and
duties are reciprocal. The right of one
person implies in another the duty to
respect that right.
➢ Because Pedro has the right to live, other
persons or agencies are duty bound not
to harm him but to help him fulfill such
right.
SOCIAL DIMENSION OFFF A PERSON
Society is but an extension of the person.
Ethics is particularly relevant because of
man's social nature. The golden rule, for
that matter, is concerned about the other
person.
Among modern thinkers, George Hegel
teaches that man is fully developed in his
participation in family life, civic community,
and in the State..
Likewise, Thomas Hill Green
(1836-1882) expresses the conviction that a
person's morality must identify itself with
public welfare.
Paul Tillich puts it more clearly and
emphatically when he says natural law is
the demand for us, "to be a person in the
community of other persons.
THANK YOU !

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