Duty

Justice as internal harmony creates duty; the just man acts rightly because justice is essential to the soul's health.

Duty arises from justice alone among the virtues, since justice alone concerns another's good.

Duty is holding fast to the ruling principle of reason; the Stoic fulfills his station's obligations without disturbance.

Duty is the emperor's submission to rational nature and the common good, practiced as daily discipline.

Natural law commands duty through reason; justice alone among virtues implies obligation, but all virtues fall under natural law's precepts.

Duty begins only with the Commonwealth; without sovereign power, there is no justice and no obligation.

Three sources of duty: God's command, the state's power, and the law of opinion; Locke mediates between Hobbes and the ancients.

Duty is obedience to the moral law within; the categorical imperative makes duty coextensive with all morality.

Duty is not abstract command but concrete ethical life; obligation is realized in family, civil society, and the state.

Duty is the obligation to promote the greatest happiness; moral rules derive their authority from utility, not from a priori reason.