Honor For Us: A Philosophical Analysis, Interpretation and Defense

Description

Honor For Us is the first contemporary philosophical inquiry into the concept of honor. It is unique not only in its analysis of six distinct concepts of honor, which includes an investigation into the place of honor in religious thought and ethics, but also in its interpretation of honor's prevalence in our own culture. Many would like to discard honor altogether as 'obsolete', but Sessions contends that the concept of honor is poorly understood, standing sorely in need of clarification. He argues that the notion of honor remains viable in the face of powerful criticism, and that it has important features which warrant our normative interest. While not downplaying the 'dark side' of honor (violence, sexism, inegalitarianism, its abuse in religion), Sessions shows that honor not only constitutes a descriptively useful concept but also remains a potentially valuable concept for us today.

William Lad Sessions is the Ballengee Professor of Philosophy at Washington and Lee University, USA. He is the author of The Concept of Faith: A Philosophical Investigation (Cornell University Press, 1994) and Reading Hume's Dialogues: A Veneration for True Religion (Indiana University Press, 2002).

"Lad Session's engaging, thoughtful exploration of honor rehabilitates a notion often seen as archaic, corrupt, and dangerous. He aptly demonstrates the relevance and importance of honor in modern life." -- Anthony Cunningham, Professor of Philosophy and Department Chairperson, Saint John's University, USA. Honor is a rich, important topic of study, and [the author is] right to insist that it is still deeply present with us. We can hope that this newfound philosophical interest will continue and be even more fruitful. -- Philosophy in Review XXXI "Honor for Us is truly a major landmark in the recent history of philosophy. William Lad Sessions has researched his subject deeply and widely. He offers a fresh, provocative and penetrating study of honor, both its positive and negative elements. Philosophers have long and sadly neglected the ageless ethic. Indeed, like the ideal of chastity, the word has disappeared from common discourse. Sessions, however, shows how its principles and complications persist in many aspects of our daily lives. Readers will find it a stunning revelation." -- Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Richard J. Milbauer Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida and Visiting Scholar, Johns Hopkins University, USA. "In this very well written and widely researched book, William Lad Sessions has opened up the philosophical investigations of honor along several key dimensions. He looks at the way the word has been used in various contexts, sketching a Wittgenstein-style field of family resemblances that includes the honors conferred by grateful governments to the key attribute of persons deeply valued in many cultures from the samurai to cowboys. This survey includes a fascinating incursion into the murky realm of honor in the academy, in both its senses of rewards and of a central virtue of the gracious and the good. One hopes that this pioneering exploration will open up a new chapter in moral philosophy where the nature and value of honor moralities will be the focus of attention." -- Rom Harre, Adjunct Professor, Philosophy Department, Georgetown University, USA, and Emeritus Fellow, former Vice-Prinicpal, and founding member of Linacre College, University of Oxford, UK. "Honor has played an inestimably great role in every civilization that has shaped ours, only to fall into disregard in our own time; we very much need the revival Dr. Sessions's learned and lively analysis gives it." -- Rob E. Atkinson, Jr., Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell Professor of Law, Florida State University, USA. "Honor for Us is clearly and gracefully written, and its pages sparkle with insight. Sessions makes many valuable connections as he crisscrosses the new province of philosophical activity here opened for us. He deals deftly but sensitively with criticism. Unlike many others, he both indulges the philosopher's love of analysis and abstraction and offers ideas that individuals and groups might usefully apply in daily life. Altogether a most worthwhile and satisfying book." -- J. L. Schellenberg, Professor of Philosophy, Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada.