Comments on: What will future generations condemn us for?

What will future generations condemn us for?

anotherpanacea — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:49:26 -0800

Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses honor, moral revolutions, and the condemnation of future generations. His new book The Honor Code chronicles how the concept of honor has been crucial in the fight against immoral practices like dueling, foot-binding, and slavery. (See also 1, 2)

By: clavdivs

clavdivs — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:59:13 -0800

"Too many minivans advertise, somewhat touchingly, that "My Child Is an Honor Student." The word honor is often linked, as morality is not, with violence." keep the honor students away from mini-vans?

By: John Cohen

John Cohen — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:18:32 -0800

He had a good piece in the Washington Post recently.

By: Twang

Twang — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:43:54 -0800

They will condemn us for:
1. massive pollution and resource depletion with no goal;
2. not using the easy energy to build up permanent renewable energy;
3. not keeping the libraries open during recessions NO MATTER WHAT
4. My Mother the Car, and Invasion of the Booty Snatchers

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:59:50 -0800

Appiah is an amazing thinker and writer who should be better known than he is. Thanks for the post.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:13:37 -0800

An interview in NPR. Codes of honor can be changed through humor, like in the recent series of adds for Panda cheese in the Middle East. In the Middle East there is a shift in the perception of honor concurrent with modernization. People are no longer shepard's protecting flocks of sheep and making cheese themselves, they are buying cheese at Safeway box stores and working in office cubicles (as in the commercials). Protecting ones honor from insult like in the old days is over the top to the point of ridiculous humor. Like the Panda.

By: anotherpanacea

anotherpanacea — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:24:33 -0800

That Washington Post article was what I intended to link to for "condemnation of future generations," which is also the source of the post's title. I am shamed by the mistake.

By: anotherpanacea

anotherpanacea — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:39:52 -0800

And now it is fixed, so I am shamed by the confusion my first comment will cause in future readers....

By: treepour

treepour — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 20:30:01 -0800

Wow, this is good. Thank you. At first glance (and this is a very early and limited first glance), it seems to me he's learned a great deal about being human by earnestly and compassionately examining his own coming-out process and is seeking to make what he's learned intelligible in a universal, philosophical sense. The interview has, so far, grabbed me in an unexpectedly emotional way, and reminds me of how I felt when I first began reading and learning about philosophy.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:38:40 -0800

Thanks. I'm a big fan of Appiah. His book Cosmopolitanism was one of those books that stated things about our cultures and beliefs around the world which, in retrospect, seem so obvious but which few others are thinking or writing about. I wouldn't hesitate to call the issues he tackles urgent.

By: anotherpanacea

anotherpanacea — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 05:21:58 -0800

A few responses to the WaPo op-ed: Ross Douthat Will Wilkinson Tyler Cowen

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 16:33:14 -0800

Appiah on Sam Harris's new book.

By: anotherpanacea

anotherpanacea — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:37:49 -0800

This is my review of the book: "Appiah's Honor."

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 10:01:20 -0800

That's an excellent and informative review; thanks for linking to it. (I hope the smiley at the end of the penultimate paragraph is an accident; if so, you might want to eliminate it. I don't think Kant would approve of smileys.)

By: anotherpanacea

anotherpanacea — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 20:19:47 -0800

Thanks languagehat. The funny thing is that I actually thought about editing the smiley out, after I saw your comment. Which just proves the point: shame motivates, even typographic shame.