Consider the following scenario: an acquaintance I personally do not particularly enjoy talking to is learning French and asks me for a favour, namely to chat with them an hour per week in French, my mother tongue. Would it be morally good to do them the favour, even if it would just be out of duty? Or another scenario: my mum wants me to visit her for Christmas, but I wish not to, just as much as she wants me to go. Should I go out of duty?
According to Kant, good actions must be motivated by a sense of duty, as opposed to inclination. But shouldn't it be just the other way round, at least if the action is about doing another person a favour? It almost seems immoral to do somebody a favour only because of duty.
I wonder whether there isn’t a bit more to your worry that there issomething immoral involved if you were to visit your mother despite thefact that you really didn’t want to or if you were to give free Frenchlessons to an acquaintance whose company you didn’t enjoy. To explore this idea, I’d like to step back and focus on a presupposition behind your question– namely, that you do have a moral duty to your unpleasant acquaintance to talk French to himfor an hour each week and that you do have a moral duty to visit yourmother despite your disinclination to do so. Do you really have theseduties? Surely you don’t have a general duty to speak French for anhour a week to just anyone who asks for the favor, and surely you don’thave a duty to visit for the holidays just anyone who wants you to. Sowhy should an acquaintance or your mother have any special claims onyour time, company, and conversation? Let’s begin with yourmother. Like most mothers, I’ll assume, she’s done a lot for you. Sheprovided...
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