The love of honor, including the striving for praise, distinction, superiority, glory, and fame, is often viewed with suspicion in democracies because of our presumption that equality is the core of justice and morality. For example, "elitism" is a term of reproach, not praise, and we urge people to "check their privilege," not their envy. Even so, the pursuit of honor continues to play a huge role in our lives, especially at elite colleges like Harvard. Indeed, the love of honor is so deeply rooted in the human soul and so necessary to political life, that even the most fanatical of communist nations have had to honor their leaders and occasionally even deify them.

To understand ourselves, as well as the indispensable glue and engine of every society, we need to examine the love of honor: what is it? and what do we hope for by chasing it? Do we seek honor as confirmation of our goodness? Or do we push ourselves the way we do in order to rise up and receive admiration and recognition, the way a supremely good swimmer practices every day all day, not for its own sake, but for the Olympic gold? Or is there something beyond that, that makes the combination “excellence (or goodness) and external recognition (or honor)” especially intoxicating? —perhaps that even allows us to hope for, or think ourselves deserving of, a perfect or divine happiness?

If we turn to the wise men of the past, to Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and Thucydides, we find that they in fact share a similar but very subtle understanding of honor. Through a few short selections and extensive discussion of two extreme examples of honor-lovers, Achilles and Alcibiades, we will go through certain puzzles they came across in reflecting on love of honor, especially in its relation to our concern for justice — puzzles that led them to radical conclusions about what we are.

Readings:

Abraham Lincoln, from his Address to the Young Men’s Lyceum (1838), on the danger to be feared from the most ambitious men. How does he view the relation between the honor-lovers and the just? Why is this a new danger—weren’t such ambitious men always among us? Isn’t Lincoln one of them?

Homer, selected speeches of Achilles, the greatest Greek hero, showing even his grave doubts about the goodness of honor, but also the depth and complexity of his attachment to it:

• Iliad, ix.307-431: Achilles refuses to fight for his friends and his fellow Greeks, despite Odysseus' pleas. In a choice (that he has the impressive courage to see) between a long life at home, and swift death with undying glory at Troy, Achilles seems to choose the former, a long life without glory, but he proves unable to stick with this resolution.

• Iliad, xxi.272-283: Achilles begs for help from all the gods to avoid a “mean death” (he is about to drown at the hands of a river god).

• Odyssey, xi.488-503: Achilles in Hades, a shade in the afterlife, replies to Odysseus.

Plato, Alcibiades I, 103a-118b, on the testing by Socrates of a teenage Alcibiades, one who would become one of the most famous and brilliant of the Greek generals, but who also switched sides several times from and against Athens during the war with Sparta. We will focus only on 114e-118b (pp. 190- 196), an extremely subtle but critical passage: Socrates' attempt to persuade Alcibiades that Alcibiades himself believes that justice is advantageous.

Optional background reading (not included):

Aristotle, Nic. Ethics: viii.7, 1159a6-13; ix.8, 1168a28-1169b2: self-love and selfishness

Aristotle, Nic. Ethics, iv.3, 1123a35-1125a35: the great-souled man

Wednesday, July 20th 3:00 - 8:00 PM

Registration required for attendance. Dinner provided.

Abigail Adams Institute, 14 Arrow Street Suite G10 Cambridge MA