Introduction there was a time in days gone by when honor was the driving force behind the life of every great, good, and decent man. Every action of his hand, every thought that found its way from the mind to the mouth and past the lips, every motivation for every endeavor worthy of his undertaking they were all of them dictated by a man’s inborn sense honor, and aimed at either bolstering that honor which already existed, or else at reclaiming that which through some misfortune had been lost. Honor has for a millennium been the central point in the stories we read to our children in the hope that they too will grow to live honorably. Men and women of valor would slay the dragon, defeat the witch, overthrow or subvert the evil king, all in the name of fulfilling their sense of honor. Not relegated to our fairy tales only, honor is also found in all of the great stories of history, both told and untold. Men and women of honor speak to the soul they speak to that which in every living human is real and true.

The reason for this is because honor, whatever it is determined to be, is itself honest, good, beautiful, and true. He honors his athletes, scholars, and the myriad other high achievers in our society. What, then, is honor? what follows below is a look at various ideas of honor through the ages, followed by what honor in its present state means for mankind, and finally a few concluding thoughts. This is, regrettably, only a primer on the issue and is hardly a comprehensive work. Aristotle’s great soul man though not immune from academic criticism, the concept of the great souled man, as laid out by aristotle in his nichomachean ethics. Many have criticized aristotle’s conception, which makes it a stellar place to touch down for further investigation into the matter of what makes a man honorable. The philosopher gives a very simple account of the conduct and demeanor of a man whose soul is great.

Some of these points seem honorable, while others appear to fall into the popular conduct and ideals of the modern age, which is among the most transient of human generations. For instance, aristotle claims that a man of great soul does not take small risks and will gladly do favors while at the same time shunning a similar show of charity. However this same great souled man is apt to show favor to those of high station, as to show favor to those of lesser station is below him. The great souled man is also he who lives his life as he chooses, as to submit to the will of others would be too closely likened to slavery. Aristotle thus paints a convoluted picture, at least to modern conception, of the meaning of honor. Despite his great intellectual and philosophical prowess, aristotle is not infallible in his conclusions.

He presents a picture of a figure who is comfortably compared to the modern day aristocrat. Aristotle, having come from a different place and time, may present conclusions that are the product of his age. Might one then assume that honor is relative? i believe that this is a false and dangerous conclusion. Chivalry and noblesse oblige chivalry is dead, so many today suggest, and perhaps those who believe this sentiment are quite right. To abide by this code, though certainly variable from one group to the next, a knight was expected to protect the poor, the weak, and the defenseless to serve the good, to seek justice, and to generally be upstanding in his conduct. From this does the most readily identified sense of honor come. perhaps the closest and most relatable and reliable idea of honor comes from that bastion of desire for honor, france. It is from the land of the guillotine and champagne that we receive the concept known in the french tongue as noblesse oblige.

Translated into english as nobility obligates, noblesse oblige suggests that with wealth, power and prestige come social responsibilities it is a moral obligation to act with honor, kindliness and generosity. In our modern throw away culture, it is unsurprising that such a notion should fall out of vogue. Not solitary in the blame, one must also acknowledge that a certain unsettling cynicism has invaded the modern conservative psyche, in which the individual believes either by choice or by force that those who are less well off than they are only so due to their own poor choices, and thus undeserving of the help of those in higher, more privileged positions.

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In a society such as ours, in which the civic onus is placed squarely on the law, it is common for the concept of honor to quickly lose relevance in the shadow of the almighty law. If man has the law, he has no perceivable need for honor or morals or ethics, for it is the law that tells us what is right and wrong. Soviet exile turned titan of conservative intellectualism, aleksandr solzhenitsyn, spoke on this very issue while speaking truth to the graduating class of harvard university in 1978. To wit, western society has given itself the organization best suited to its purposes based… on the letter of the law… any conflict is solved according to the letter of the law and this is considered to be the supreme solution. Nobody will mention that one could still not be entirely right, and urge self restraint, a willingness to renounce such legal rights, sacrifice and selfless risk. It would sound simply absurd… everybody operates at the extreme limit of those legal frames.