Modern Honor

Book excerpt: This book examines the notion of honor with an eye to dissecting its intellectual demise and with the aim of making a case for honor's rehabilitation. Western intellectuals acknowledge honor's influence, but they lament its authority. For Western democratic societies to embrace honor, it must be compatible with social ideals like liberty, equality, and fraternity. Cunningham details a conception of honor that can do justice to these ideals. This vision revolves around three elements--character (being), relationships (relating), and activities and accomplishment (doing). Taken together, these elements articulate a shared aspiration for excellence. We can turn the tables on traditional ills of honor--serious problems of gender, race, and class--by forging a vision of honor that rejects lives predicated on power and oppression.