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Full Idea
Honour is clearly the greatest external good.
Gist of Idea
Honour is clearly the greatest external good
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1123b20)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.154
A Reaction
Honour was earlier dismissed as 'the good', largely because it depended on other people. It is not far off to say that the aim of Aristotle's theory is to achieve genuine and justified honour. One's 'eudaimonia' is judged by others too.
| 7811 | Sophoclean heroes die terrible deaths when they oppose the new Athenian values [Sophocles, by Grayling] |
| 8235 | Should a coward who ran fifty paces from a battle laugh at another who ran a hundred? [Mengzi (Mencius)] |
| 24 | Honour depends too much on the person who awards it [Aristotle] |
| 4119 | If you aim at honour, you make yourself dependent on the people to whom you wish to be superior [Aristotle, by Williams,B] |
| 5233 | Honour is clearly the greatest external good [Aristotle] |
| 23912 | Honour depends on what it is for, and whether it is bestowed by worthy people [Aristotle] |
| 20844 | Honour is just, courageous, orderly or knowledgeable. It is praiseworthy, or functions well [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 23673 | Every worthy man has a principle of honour, and knows what is honourable [Reid] |
| 4557 | The supposed great lovers of honour (Alexander etc) were actually great despisers of honour [Nietzsche] |
| 4021 | Willingness to risk life was the constitutive quality of the man of honour [Taylor,C] |
| 7809 | In an honour code shame is the supreme punishment, and revenge is a duty [Grayling] |