Honor Definition Essay

The definition of honor is something that can’t be defined. When people talk about the feeling of honor you may be able come up with a few things, but the definition of honor changes between people. Over time honor has altered and throughout the world the definition of honor is skewed. All definitions have some similarities, but none are the same. All through time honor has been used in many ways to describe a man, but what honor means has changed throughout the world and throughout time. Honor can be defined many ways and can’t be given one definition. In an article written by a journalist from New York The Sun, Shalin Punn about James Bowman and his book Honor: A History, he states about honor “the concept of honor has been subject to a "change in meaning," up to a point where the word has undergone a "virtual disappearance from the working vocabularies of English and other European languages” (Bowman). First he says that honor has changed so much that it can’t be defined.
In a book written by Samuel Johnson in 1755 he defines honor as "nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness” (Johnson). People may say that this still applies today in the modern world because honor could be staying the same while the people are what is changing. Conversely, this isn’t true because honor has just changed through time, but it has also changed between cultures. With this in mind honor has never been one definition. In an article written by a journalist from New York The Sun, Shalin Punn about James Bowman and his book Honor: A History, he states “honor still exists in more developed forms, in "honor groups," like the "family or the military," where we do have a "code" of honor which creates a "mini-honor culture”(Bowman). In other words he says that honor exists in a more developed form, changing over time. Furthermore honor may be based off of an idea, but it has been developing over time into something