One overlooked complication here is the extent to which honor is still socially constructed in particular circumstances. One helpful way to frame practical ethics is to distinguish between public and private morality. Almost nobody subscribes to a value system that exists in a vacuum independent of the at least somewhat subjective influence of their social environment. Having integrity can sometimes still mean subverting one’s personal morality to live up to societal standards imposed upon oneself.
To commit suicide after a sufficiently shameful act has been part of a traditional code of honor in some aspects of Japanese culture for centuries. Presumably not everyone who commits suicide in Japan out of a sense of duty and honor feels in their heart of hearts is what definitely the right choice. Yet they still feel obliged to act upon a code of honor they don’t believe in the same way a soldier is still supposed to follow the orders of a commanding officer even if the soldier disagrees with them.
This mixture of what public and private morality mean for one’s honor and integrity to the point people will sacrifice their lives for the sake of relatively arbitrary external societal standards points to how honor can’t be so easily distinguished from PR in this way.
One overlooked complication here is the extent to which honor is still socially constructed in particular circumstances. One helpful way to frame practical ethics is to distinguish between public and private morality. Almost nobody subscribes to a value system that exists in a vacuum independent of the at least somewhat subjective influence of their social environment. Having integrity can sometimes still mean subverting one’s personal morality to live up to societal standards imposed upon oneself.
To commit suicide after a sufficiently shameful act has been part of a traditional code of honor in some aspects of Japanese culture for centuries. Presumably not everyone who commits suicide in Japan out of a sense of duty and honor feels in their heart of hearts is what definitely the right choice. Yet they still feel obliged to act upon a code of honor they don’t believe in the same way a soldier is still supposed to follow the orders of a commanding officer even if the soldier disagrees with them.
This mixture of what public and private morality mean for one’s honor and integrity to the point people will sacrifice their lives for the sake of relatively arbitrary external societal standards points to how honor can’t be so easily distinguished from PR in this way.