What Is Honor?
About this book
What is honor? Has its meaning changed since ancient times? Is it an outmoded notion? Does it still have the power to direct our behavior? In this provocative book Alexander Welsh considers the history and meaning of honor and dismisses the idea that we live in a post-honor culture. He notes that we have words other thanĀ honor, such asĀ respect,Ā self-respect, and personalĀ identity, that show we do indeed care deeply about honor. Honor, he argues, is a continuing process of respect that motivates or constrains members of a peer group. Honorās dictates function as moral imperatives.
Surprisingly, little systematic study of the history of honor in Western culture has been attempted. Offering a welcome remedy, Welsh provides a genealogy of approaches to the subject, mining some of the most influential texts of the Western tradition. He rereads with fascinating results the works of Aristotle, Cicero, Shakespeare, Mandeville, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Adam Smith, and others. With a sharp focus on the intersection of honor and ethics in both literature and philosophy, Welsh invites new and constructive debate on a topic of vital interest.
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Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- Preface
- Plan of This Book
- Acknowledgments
- 1. On Moralities of Obedience and Respect
- 2. Help from Anthropology and Psychology
- 3. Respect in the Ethics of Aristotle
- 4. Ciceroās Mediation of the Same
- 5. Shakespeareās Recourse to Roman Honor
- 6. His Antony, Cleopatra, and Coriolanus
- 7. Honor by That Name in Mandeville and Montesquieu
- 8. Leveling Down in Enlightenment Fiction
- 9. Coming of Age in Neoclassical Drama
- 10. And How Rousseauās Emile Comes of Age
- 11. Kantās Engagement with Honor
- 12. Parallels to Kantās Moral Philosophy
- 13. Respect and Adam Smithās Impartial Spectator
- 14. Adam Smith and Recent Social Science
- 15. Coming to Terms with Honor in Philosophy
- Works Cited
- Index
