Contents
Real men know well what duty is.
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Debt is a multifaceted concept that has many interpretations — from the most specific to the very vague.
In the ordinary sense, a debt is something that is taken for a while and is subject to return.
In addition, debt can be considered in three guises:
- Debt is like a duty.
- Duty is like gratitude.
- Duty is like a conscious Desire.
Duty, understood as an obligation, is a fairly common interpretation. For example, the playful «marital duty» is a sexual pleasure that has become a duty.
For some, debt is a form of gratitude. For example, gratitude towards parents — or, as they say, «filial duty.»
Less commonly, duty is identified with a conscious desire. For example, the desire to benefit people. Conscious desire can be based on respect for people.
Benefit — the necessary benefit, an objective positive result. What meets the needs. Children do not use the category useful-harmful, preferring to operate with concepts: pleasant-not pleasant, like-dislike. Adults are more guided by useful-unhelpful, necessary-not necessary. Although, by the way, adult children still continue to use the categories I want or don’t want.
Strictly speaking, an obligation differs from a duty in that it is performed by a person involuntarily and is not performed in the absence of this factor. Obligation is driven by Fear of the consequences of its violation. Duty — the strength of their desires and confidence in their expediency.
Features of understanding the word duty in Eastern and Western cultures
The peculiarity of the Eastern understanding of debt is associated with its maximum concretization. For example, in Hinduism, the duty of every person consists of three prescriptions: to observe one’s dharma (hereditary duties), to perform artha (duties of a householder and citizen), and to perform kama (love duties). All these duties are quite specific and transparent, and no intellectual effort is required to fulfill them.
The Western understanding of duty, on the contrary, is as abstract and philosophical as possible. Western ethics proclaims only the idea of duty, which the person himself must fill with concrete content. Only the person himself, based on a specific life situation, can and must decide what exactly is his duty. Thus, the Western tradition considers a person as an independent, thinking, responsible person, capable of independent decisions. The Western understanding of duty is based on the idea of intellectual and moral freedom of the individual, while the Eastern one is based on lack of independence and dependence.
Attitude towards debt
Capricious children are afraid of the word «duty» like fire. They believe (generally rightly) that once they get rid of this phobia, they will lose the moral right to fight ghosts for freedom, and they will have to actually determine their Life.
It is a completely working protective mechanism so that the kids remain cute hand rebels and do not climb into adulthood until the wings get stronger.