The Honor Code by Kwame Anthony Appiah - Term Paper Example

The Honor Kwame Anthony Appiah Honor is an emotional concept that portrays the quality or level of respect and worthiness for a person - by a person. The ‘honor’ gained, affects the social status of an entity, whether an individual, a corporate, or a nation. Just like any other personal emotion, be it love, hatred or envy, honor is also derived through a bond between individuals that establishes ones dignity and respect in the society. But in contrast to the emotions of love and hatred, which just changes the relationship between two individuals, honor has the capability to ignite revolutions and change the face of society altogether. Through the ages, honor has been a driving force for change. Immoral customs have prevailed through generations, even though they faced opposition from morality, reason or religion. But when honor was brought into the equation, these practices were completely eradicated. This is the topic that Kwame Anthony Appiah, one of the most renowned philosophical writers of today, chose in his book ‘The Honor Code’. In his book, he portrays 3 such immoral customs in grim detail and shows how they were considered to be a status symbol in society. This concept of honor inspires people to act, sometimes in ways we find laudable and other times in ways we abhor. In his book, Appiah take 3 such examples and explains in each case how honor started a revolution that was ultimately the cause of abolishment of immoral acts. The first example took place in Britain. For centuries gentlemen belonging to the aristocratic society of the Great Britain used to settle their difference by duelling to death. Appiah recounts one of the most well known duels in the British history, that which took place between the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Winchilsea in 1829. He describes how duelling was as customary in the aristocratic British society, as having tea. In those days, fighting to death was the easiest way to determine which individual out of the two was telling the truth. When this custom started descending into the lives of the common man, that was the time when the aristocratic high society British started finding this act a little too abhorrent to keep practicing. The second example that Appiah describes in detail is the fast-forming social consensus against slavery that gave birth to a moral revolution across the British Empire, ultimately abolishing slavery for good. The third example of how honor gives birth to a moral revolution is shown in the foot-binding custom that was carried out in China for centuries. This is the particular example from The Honor Code that has been discussed in detail in this paper. The customary practice of foot-binding was carried out through centuries in China. This practice had most probably originated in the early Song dynasty and was adopted by the elite households of China. Little girls were made to bind their feet so tight that it would permanently damage their structure and cease growth. There were many reasons for this practice, but the most prominent one was that feet bound women represented the elite class of the society who were completely free from manual labour. This elite social status was not only enjoyed by women, but also uplifted the status of their men who could afford women who did not have to work and solely existed to serve their men and direct the household activities. The women took great pride in their feet which had achieved the desired ‘lotus shape’. This shape was the result of brutally binding the feet in such a fashion that it practically broke the bones of the toes and the arch of the foot and shrunk it down to size that was just 7-9 centimetres from the toes to the heel. As mentioned earlier, women with bound feet only belonged to the elite class of the Chinese society. They would use expensive silk wrappings and embroidered silk slippers to cover their feet. For the men, having a wife who had ‘Lotus feet’ was considered to be a great honor, not only for himself, but for his family as well. Bound feet were not just considered as a status symbol but were also a sex symbol. Walking on bound feet required a slight bending of the knees and swaying slightly in order to maintain the right movement. This sway was found to be sexually attractive to men of that era. Women with bound feet, walking in a particular fashion which was also known as the ‘Lotus Gait’, naturally were more appealing to men and thus improved their chances in marriage. Having Lotus feet was nevertheless considered to be the best attribute of a women belonging to the elite class. She was respected by all, adored by her peers and desirable to the opposite sex. However, bound feet also had an ‘Achilles heel’ in a manner of speaking. If the sexual aspect of bound feet is considered, it was found that some men preferred never to see a woman’s bound feet. Thus, they had to continuously wear their ‘lotus shoes’, which led to various medical problems. Infections were one of the primary drawbacks of feet binding. Women with bound feet were seriously prone to the disease gangrene. An uncovered foot would also give off a foul odor, due to the fact that various microorganisms would thrive in the un-washable folds of the bound foot. Another aspect that women with bound feet had to face was that of limited immobility. This had both social and physical implications. Due to the condition of her feet, a woman with bound feet could go only so far from her home. If she desired to travel any further, she would require the assistance of her husband, or a servant. This made the woman completely dependent and docile and guaranteed total submission to the male of the family. This degraded the women further as they could not actively participate in the society. Thus, apart from being an honor to a man and his family, the women became a symbol of male ownership as well. The above facts portray one face of honor, where women with bound feet are considered a status symbol in the society and are an element of pride to their husbands and family. Appiah, in his book, shows us the other face of honor as well, which eventually led to the abolishment of feet binding in China. From its inception, feet binding was only limited to the elite households, but in the 17th century, this practice spread from the elite households, to the common man. Though it was less prevalent among the poor society due to the fact that women had to work for a living, as many as 2 billion Chinese women had bound feet in the 20th century. This was one of that factors that weakened the feet binding practices across China. No longer was this practice unique and limited to a niche segment of the society. The pride that one used to feel earlier had lost its true value as now a common man had the same standing at the social level. The second and most significant factor that played in the abolishment of feet binding was globalization. As man entered the 20th century, the world became a much smaller place. As the West began to merge with the East and China’s ‘honor world’ expanded, the Chinese realized that their customary practice of ages would not be acceptable to their stakeholders on the other side of the world. They realized that this aspect of their culture would reflect badly upon their nation in the eyes of foreigners and would inhibit their chances of success in the world arena. Thus, they used ‘national honor’ as a vital tool to start the anti-foot binding movement. Every member of the community, from missionaries to prominent members of the society and significantly feminists started denouncing the act of feet binding in the name of honor. Honor came into play as the Chinese society could not bear to be seen as backward minded individuals with absurd rituals and practices in the eyes of the world. In 1912, a moral revolution commenced in which the newly formed Republic of China played a vital role. A nationwide foot binding ban was implemented. Women were told to unwrap their feet of face dire consequences. Even though this act caused a damaging blow to the lives of women with bound feet, as they were now seen as the objects of shame, the societies still upheld the ban by making agreements between families by promising an infant son to the family of an infant daughter with normal feet in marriage. Not only did the Government, but the religions too start denouncing the act of feet binding. The Muslim Hui women from Gransu, a north-western province used to bind their feet. After the ban, the religious leaders of the Hui denounced feet binding, saying it was against the law of Islam to violate the creation of God. Thus, by the 1940s, feet binding was completely banned in China and has been ever since. This example clearly conveys the point that Appiah tried to make in his book. Though foot binding was generally considered to be a wrongful act at the back of the minds of the Chinese people, nothing was done to stop it, until and unless it did not become a matter of national honor. And if one asks himself, how human beings could do such things, honour might seem to be more an accessory to the crime than a defence against it. It was to preserve honour that gentlemen fought duels. It was due to the honour of a family that a well-placed Chinese must find a bride with broken and useless feet. But on the other hand, it is honor that causes us to denounce the very practices that we have allowed in our society for centuries. The revolution of banning feet binding did not come about as a result of specifically moral argument. The moral argument was always there, tough not exactly out in the open. Yet it did not influence the public attitude. But whatever did influence the masses to rise up against foot binding, it was not because of any intrinsic appeal to rationality, or even humanity or sympathy. Rather, a shift occurred in which people began to feel that their honor was compromised by the practice. For what at one time honour demands, at another time it can condemn. Honour is essentially a matter of one's standing in the eyes of one's peers, or the respect they give you, and that you can demand from them. It is a question of whether you can hold your head high among the people who matter to you. The reformers used the weapons of contempt and shame to mobilize the masses for the cause. They played on the emotion of being dishonoured to be a part of a country where atrocities like this took place. But then again, the question arises – is honor a sufficient enough catalyst to ignite a moral revolution? If yes, than shouldn’t moral revolutions be happening in countries which are still plagued by immoral and inhuman practices? Across the world, there are still many countries that have a number of immoral and absurd practices being carried out even today. Many of these are under developed countries were the education and the general quality of life is less than that of its developed counterparts. Here immoral behaviour and atrocious acts have been a way of life since long ago. An example of this would be India, where in its extremist rural regions, a wife is practically burned to death, if her husband passes away. This is considered to very honorable on the part of the wife, who follows her husband immediately into the afterlife. So one can see in this example, that the honor is there, though on an extremely negative scale, but still the abhorrent act goes on. Another example comes from the Middle East. In the rural uneducated and extremist parts of the Arab world, Women if found committing an adulterating act are practically buried half in the ground, and pelted to death. Likewise, if a man is found committing the same act, he has to lose the part of his body involved in that particular episode. Just take a simple example for instance. Recently, in Saudi Arabia, a woman was punished 10 lashes for an extremely horrid act – driving a car. Could it be education then that would cause a rising against immoral behaviour? Taking another example that even Appiah mentions in his book is that of rural Pakistan. Here, women are killed in the name of honor. Honor has a funny application in this country. A woman found committing an immoral act, May it be adultery, fraud or deception, is dealt in a manner that is worse than the immoral act that she originally committed. Mutilation, burning, and killing seem to be the solution with only one justification – it’s in the name of honor. Honor for either the father of the woman, or her husband or the family. If a man is caught raping a woman, the rural uneducated so called court of law commands the man to hand over his sister or daughter to the family of the raped. In this example as well, honor shows the ugly side of its face like a super-villain. If honor was really the catalyst for change, wouldn’t this horrid act have been stopped long ago? It seems like an unbelievable fact that countries like these don’t have any honor. Then why doesn’t a moral revolution take place in countries that desperately need it? Considering the above revolution of the ban against feet binding, was it just the honor that motivated people to stand up against this centuries old custom? Or was it something more material that empowered this change. This is where Appiah’s analysis could be criticized. Foot binding was considered an honourable act in society. It uplifted the image of an individual and his family. It provided an elite social status. So technically speaking, this was more of a ‘personal’ honor that one requires to earn a standing in society. But when the revolution to ban this act began, was it really honor that started it, or was it the fear that the modern world would look down on a country that hosted such a dreadful act, and would refuse to have political, social and financial ties with it? The concept of honor in the seventeenth century or the nineteenth century might have had a significant importance in the society. But today, honor is just a flashy word to disguise an act that depicts one’s own selfishness. Thus, it is still a question whether honor is really the catalyst required to ignite the revolution of moral change. If it really was the case, then countries like Pakistan, where killing in the name of honor is still customary in its uneducated, rural regions would rise up and abolish the inhuman murders of women that plague this country and cause shame in the eyes of the civilized world. Reference: Appiah, Kwame Anthony, The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010 Read More