What is Honor?
A Question of Moral Imperatives
Alexander Welsh(Author)
Yale University Press
Published on 1. June 2008
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-300-12564-1 (ISBN)
Description
What is honour? Has its meaning changed since ancient times? Is it an outmoded notion? Does it still have the power to direct our behaviour? In this provocative book Alexander Welsh considers the history and meaning of honour and dismisses the idea that we live in a culture that has discarded it. He notes that we have other words, such as respect, self-respect, and personal identity, that show we do indeed care deeply about its meaning. Honour is, he argues, a continuing process of respect that motivates or constrains members of a peer group, and its dictates still function as moral imperatives.Surprisingly little systematic study of the history of honour 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 honour and ethics in both literature and philosophy, Welsh invites new and constructive debate on a topic of vital interest.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-300-12564-1 (9780300125641)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Norma Thompson
What Is Honor?
E-Book
07/2008
1st Edition
Yale University Press
€56.95
Available for download
Person
Alexander Welsh is Emily Sanford Professor of English Literature Emeritus, Yale University. Among his many previous books is Dickens Redressed: The Art of Bleak House and Hard Times, published by Yale University Press.