Is Honour Dead? Rethinking the Notion of Honour in the works of Thomas Hobbes

Abstract

This thesis asks whether the notion of ‘honour’ has really fallen out of contemporary moral and political discourse, as it first appears. It argues that to insist that it is irrelevant simply demonstrates that we do not have a comprehensive understanding of the nature of honour and its place in human psychology. The overall aim of this thesis is to provide an understanding of honour as an ineliminable concept in political life, and how it manifests. Reopening the discussion of honour is essential, for it forces us to confront the critical question of how an individual conducts himself or herself in relation to the companionship of others in a way that acknowledges both the natural and evolutionary basis of human psychology, especially human pride. Honour, as I will demonstrate using the works of Thomas Hobbes, is what society needs to socialise pride into good manners.