What are Duties? A Reasons-First Relational Account

Abstract

What is the difference between a reason to do something and a duty to do it? This paper develops a relational account of duties, locating the distinction between duties and nonduty reasons in how others should react to the agent’s will: duty-contrary willing deserves distinctively diminished respect from others, when compared to the respect owed to willing-contrary-to-‘mere’-nonduty-reasons. It is also a ‘reasons-first’ account, revealing a duty (and indeed a right) to be composed of a specific nexus of reasons for the agent and for others. The account has important implications for how to understand duty-creation in promising and legislation.