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Single Idea 4021

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / e. Honour ]

Full Idea

Willingness to risk life was the constitutive quality of the man of honour.

Gist of Idea

Willingness to risk life was the constitutive quality of the man of honour

Source

Charles Taylor (Sources of the Self [1989], §13.1)

Book Ref

Taylor,Charles: 'Sources of the Self' [CUP 1992], p.212


A Reaction

Which is why war is required. The growth of civil society meant the inevitable rise of other virtues.


The 11 ideas with the same theme [high public esteem as a virtue]:

Sophoclean heroes die terrible deaths when they oppose the new Athenian values [Sophocles, by Grayling]
Should a coward who ran fifty paces from a battle laugh at another who ran a hundred? [Mengzi (Mencius)]
Honour depends too much on the person who awards it [Aristotle]
If you aim at honour, you make yourself dependent on the people to whom you wish to be superior [Aristotle, by Williams,B]
Honour is clearly the greatest external good [Aristotle]
Honour depends on what it is for, and whether it is bestowed by worthy people [Aristotle]
Honour is just, courageous, orderly or knowledgeable. It is praiseworthy, or functions well [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
Every worthy man has a principle of honour, and knows what is honourable [Reid]
The supposed great lovers of honour (Alexander etc) were actually great despisers of honour [Nietzsche]
Willingness to risk life was the constitutive quality of the man of honour [Taylor,C]
In an honour code shame is the supreme punishment, and revenge is a duty [Grayling]