Honor

Philosophy Forums Psychology and Mind
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What is honor?

Honor is synonymous with self-discipline, doing the right thing when you don’t want to or have to, placing your existence in the service of it. Throughout the world and throughout history, the idea of honor has been exalted, often to the level surpassing human life. But does honor really exist, except in the minds of people who decide to agree on its reality? The same people who choose to raise it to the sky, like a deity which demands total submission and even human sacrifice all of which, in turn, feed its reality in the worshipers’ eyes. The ‘sacrificed’ become ‘heroes’ - a hero being an alternate word for a sacrificial lamb.

Japanese honor suicide. Were it not for witnesses, would this act have any meaning at all?
youtube.com/watch?v=-5xKq2vPUew

It doesn’t seem like we’ve changed that much.
youtube.com/watch?v=hA8Bjzj-aLs

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Does anyone think it really might?

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Honour, when not used an an excuse for something else, is an essential part of human society. The word itself may be a bit old fashioned, so we can replace it with others if we like.

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It is a conventional way society models behavior but it is at the same time a seemingly unaffected intuitive power whose source has an ambiguous inception as much as a goal.