Ethical Reflections

Ethical Reflections

The Plausibility of the Duties of Partiality

Document Type : Original Article

Author
SeyyedAli Asghari
Assistant professor, Department of Applied Studies of Ethics, Faculty of Ethics and Education, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.
10.30470/er.2026.2075552.1486
Abstract
Towards all humans, just in virtue of their mere humanity, we have a minimum of duties; e.g., the duty not to harm them. These are ‘general’ duties. Towards some people we also have ‘special’ duties because of the interactions (for example, a promise we have made to them) that have arisen between us and them but not between us and others. Both of these kinds of duty are grounded in general moral principles, with the difference that in the general principles that are related to special duties some interaction is included. Do we, in addition to the aforementioned kinds of duty, also have ‘duties of partiality’ toward those with whom we have ‘relations,’ duties that are grounded in the goods of the relations, not in general moral principles? This essay aims at defending an affirmative answer to this question; some of our duties to our children, parents, etc., are to them as our children, our parents, etc. The method of the essay is to investigate the elements and the structure of the reduction of duties of partiality to special duties, to critique an important arguement in its favour, and to defend the elements and the structure of nonreduction of duties of partiality to special duties and to put forward some arguements in its favour. Briefly, I have concluded that reducing duties of partiality is not plausible enough and, in contrast, nonreducing them is a view that at least not only deserves considering but also have sufficient plausibility.

Article Title Persian

وجاهت وظیفه‌های طرفداری

Author Persian

سیدعلی اصغری
استادیار گروه پژوهشی مطالعات کاربردی اخلاق، پژوهشکده‌ی اخلاق و تربیت، پژوهشگاه علوم انسانی و مطالعات فرهنگی، تهران، ایران.
Abstract Persian

ما نسبت به همه‌ی انسانها به صرف انسان بودنشان، حداقلی از وظیفه‌ها را داریم، مثلاً این وظیفه که نباید به آنها آسیب بزنیم. اینها وظیفه‌های عام هستند. نسبت به برخی انسانها وظیفه‌های «خاص» نیز داریم زیرا بین ما و آنها تعاملهایی پدید آمده است (مانند عهدی که با کسی می‌بندیم) که بین ما و دیگران پدید نیامده است. این هر دو نوع وظیفه، مبتنی بر اصلهای عام اخلاقی هستند، با این تفاوت که در اصلهای عام مربوط به وظیفه‌های خاص، تعاملْ مندرج است. آیا ما نسبت به کسانی که با آنها «رابطه» داریم، علاوه بر دو نوع وظیفه‌ی فوق، «وظیفه‌های طرفداری» نیز داریم که نه بر اصلهای عام اخلاقی بلکه بر خیرهای همان رابطه مبتنی هستند؟ هدف این مقالهْ دفاع از پاسخ مثبت به این پرسش است؛ برخی از وظیفه‌های ما به فرزند، والدین، و مانند اینها، از حیث فرزند بودن و... است. روش مقاله، بررسی ارکان و ساختار فروکاستِ وظیفه‌های طرفداری به وظیفه‌های خاص، نقد مهمترین استدلال و پشتوانه‌های آن، و بررسی ارکان و ساختارعدم‌فروکاستِ وظیفه‌های طرفداری به وظیفه‌های خاص و طرح برخی استدلالها به نفع آن است. نتیجه به‌اختصار این بوده که فروکاستْ از وجاهت قابل‌قبولی برخوردار نیست، و در مقابلْ عدم‌فروکاستْ دست‌کم نه فقط موضعی شایسته‌ی تأمل است بلکه از وجاهت قابل‌قبولی بهره‌مند است.

Keywords Persian

relationship
interaction
general moral principles
act of will
goods of relationship
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  • Receive Date 23 October 2025
  • Revise Date 29 December 2025
  • Accept Date 06 February 2026