Honor in Political and Moral Philosophy (original) (raw)

In this history of the development of ideas of honor in Western philosophy, Peter Olsthoorn examines what honor is, how its meaning has changed, and whether it can still be of use. Political and moral philosophers from Cicero to John Stuart Mill thought that a sense of honor and concern for our reputation could help us to determine the proper thing to do, and just as important, provide us with the much-needed motive to do it. Today, outside of the military and some other pockets of resistance, the notion of honor has become seriously out of date, while the term itself has almost disappeared from our moral language. Most of us think that people ought to do what is right based on a love for jus­tice rather than from a concern with how we are perceived by others. Wide-ranging and accessible, the book explores the role of honor in not only philosophy but also literature and war to make the case that honor can still play an important role in contemporary life. Review CHOICE Choice Reviews July 2015. Olsthoorn (Netherlands Defense Academy) offers a timely philosophical examination of honor. He traces the intellectual history of honor and its transformation throughout philosophical and political thought in the West. He considers both honor generally and its various manifestations, such as the notion of honor among individuals, groups, and states. The book reveals important insights about comparative concepts such as integrity, respect, and humiliation. Though fewer people in today's world are concerned with honor in their everyday lives than in the past, the topic remains significant and continues to resonate in contemporary times in a variety of ways (as evidenced, for instance, by widespread interest in the phenomenon called "honor killing"). The book features an introduction, a conclusion, and five full-length chapters. Although the background framework is primarily philosophical, the scope of the book is deeply interdisciplinary, drawing from political science, literature, military ethics, and related areas. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. --B. Romaya, University of Massachusetts Lowell