Honor, Integrity, Duty "The Greatest Way to Essay

Honor, Integrity, Duty

"the greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be" (Socrates).

If ten persons are asked to define "honor" there will likely be eight or nine different answers, and perhaps even all ten people will have a different response. Honor can be thought of as respect; when a person achieves something very significant or has high moral standards -- that can be seen as honor, according to the MacMillan Dictionary. An honor is something that is given to a person who has achieved something significant; and an honor can be something done to represent another person's efforts. For example, Rev. Martin Luther King was honored with a Nobel Prize for Peace because of his nonviolent leadership (MacMillan Dictionary).

Scholar Frank Henderson Stewart writes in his book Honor that in Asian countries (notably China) saving "face" is an honorable thing to do. In the Japanese culture, honor literally means "glory of the name," Stewart explains in Chapter One. Stewart also explains that honor has had an important place in the German culture, and "certain offenses against honor are to this day recognized by the criminal law" in Germany. For example, it is an offense under German criminal law statutes for one person to call another "a swine," Stewart continues. The suggestion is that calling a person a swine attacks that person's honor.

Meanwhile, author and professor emeritus at Yale University Alexander Welsh defines honor as "…a measure of esteem and commendation," usually employed as a way to describe a "higher-than-usual achievement" (Welsh, 2008, p. 1). The word "honor" has been in the past used most frequently in military and diplomatic contexts. Welsh references the noted German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, whose work on the concept of honor is greatly respected by scholars. It is appropriate for this paper to use Welsh's quotes from Schopenhauer's essay Parerga and Paralipomena:

"Honor is not the opinion people have of particular qualities which a man may happen to possess exclusively: it is rather the opinion they have of qualities which a man may be expected to exhibit, and to which he should not prove false…Honor is something which we are able and ready to share with everyone…"

Honor should be thought of as a "moral imperative" -- but what people ordinarily mean by honor is "…merit, distinction, prize-worthiness of one sort or another," Welsh explains (4). But the author cautions against viewing honor as fame; honor should be thought of in terms of having the will to be good and having the courage to overcome temporary passion (Welsh, 4).

Integrity

In the United States Air Force the "First Core Value" is "Integrity First." The concepts of courage and conviction are part of integrity, the Air Force explains. Integrity is "…the willingness to do what is right even when no one is looking. It is the moral compass, "the inner voice" and integrity is also the ability to act on "conviction" and it means controlling a person's "impulses and appetites" (Air Force).

There are eight moral traits that are linked to the concept of integrity, according to the Air Force list of Core Values: a) courage (doing what is morally right even if the "personal cost is high"; b) honesty (a person's word is his bond; no cover-ups are acceptable; "We don't lie and we can't justify any deviation"); c) responsibility (no person with integrity is irresponsible); d) accountability (persons of integrity never shift blame or take credit for what others have done); e) justice (practicing justice means having integrity); f) openness (a free flow of information and transparency is important to a person of integrity); g) self-respect (a person practicing integrity never brings discredit upon himself/herself -- or the organization to which he/she belongs); and h) humility (those in the Air Force should be "sobered" by the "awesome task of defending the Constitution of the United States of America") (Air Force).

Meanwhile clinical psychologist Dr. Barbara Killinger points out those persons that practice integrity "…choose appropriate ways to express our anger" (Killinger, 2010, p. 13). For example, when a person witnesses an injustice, publicly stating….....