When I say honor, what I mean is the idea of every individual being called to answer to everyone else. You know, the kind of thing you see from the Klingons. “You are thirty and unmarried, you bring dishonor to us” or “shame on your family for eternity because you were arrested for terrorism” or “what a disgrace you are for not having the skillset of your parents”. This goes deeper than that though, sometimes it’s more subtle, for example you might run into old classmates and all they want to know is how your brother is doing, or people keep telling you that you should live up to your sister or they might put you in some kind of shadow.
People who defend honor will often say “it is the masses who have spoken, enough said” but do you consider this self-explanatory and why? Because I have many questions sometimes that get no answer that seem to undermine the very justification of honor, for example… what defines a member of an honor culture, is the internet seen as a valid method of manifesting an honor culture, does an honor culture that faces a schism and breaks off from another become a dishonorable honor culture or equally valid, who was the first person to believe in certain ideas from which the honor culture got its conclusions, how did said person justify their ideas, is it dishonorable to find loopholes in the rules of the honor culture, are you dishonored if you save the life of someone who is seppukuing, what if this person happens to be the emperor, etc.
When I hear the word “honor” I mostly only conotate it with honor killings where a brother kills his sister or a father his daughter because she dared to date someone they don’t approve off. I’ve not seen it with my own eyes but read about it many articles in Germany and Sweden where Turkish or Afghan migrants did this.
So for me this word has a ver bad conotation.
Expanding on your example I believe “honor” implies that the person doesn’t really believe in anything, doesn’t have an independent system of morality.
They only care about perception among their in-group.
I consider honor to sorta be the opposite of hypocrisy. Its to lead ones life as one as one espouses and truly believes and be consistant in word and deed. It is not necessarily good but more often sought by good people.
Honor is a sense of a child doing things for which parents will praise them. An adult substitutes parents with other people and institutions, but honor is still a desire to be accepted and praised by others and anticipation of it.
No, and I am honor-bound not to explain it.
I associate honor with it being a part of culture and I think of the Japanese way of honor. Like Bushido.
