Duty

Summary

Dominique Pagani returns regularly, from 2015 to 2026, to the same distinction: "I must eat to live" misuses the verb "must" (devoir), because it expresses a physical necessity, an "I cannot not", which in fact belongs to the realm of power (pouvoir)1. Duty in the strong sense only makes sense where I could do the opposite. It therefore presupposes choice and a space of freedom2. He takes the example of the red light: I must respect it because I can break the law, and freedom is thus maintained3. Moral duty then implies choosing a value4. He also contrasts duty with blind obedience: to obey out of duty is to obey a law that I recognize as well-founded5. On the political level, he brings up the distinction between what is and what ought to be. Hegel mocks the "ought" and wants reason to understand what is6. Marx studies what is in order to be able to change it, against utopian socialism7.

1. 1#9.14 How can sciences of history be real?5 Feb 2021 · 1:30:35
2. 2Mythology and truth8 Aug 2015 · 2:43
3. 3#5.3 bis Questions (Facebook Live)13 Jan 2019 · 34:07
4. 4The eternal return… of the death camps?13 Oct 2024 · 10:42
5. 5Niger special: should we “blacken the corpses”?7 Aug 2023 · 57:10
6. 6Michel Clouscard, the paths of praxis (1/2)8 Dec 2015 · 34:07
7. 7Money, work, freedom3 Aug 2019 · 36:56

Summary produced automatically from 12 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.