The Honor Code by Kwame Anthony Appiah Term Paper

The Honor Code by Kwame Anthony Appiah - Term Paper Example 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 cau se 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 pri de 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’