I'm confused on what the difference between praise and honor is and what Aristotle meant by this. In class it was said that honor is something that someone brings upon another person and the one doing the honoring creates the virtue. Is praise not the same way? I don't feel like happiness has to belong to one and not the other.
-Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz,
ReplyDeleteI was also a little confused about the distinction between these two. But after thinking about it for a while I feel that honoring someone and praising them are two different things. Someone can praise a child for doing a math problem correctly, but that doesn't mean that they honor them. When you honor someone, it also implies that you respect them. Praising someone for something they might have done doesn't necessarily mean that you respect or honor them; it means that they did something right. Also, praise can be just an empty compliment which doesn't imply respect or honor.
A definition of praise is "to express approval or admiration of". I feel that this differs in honoring someone in that to simply admire and commend someone for a deed or act that committed is very different than to truly honor there presence and acts. You can commend a stranger by saying thank you for holding the door for you, but i don't think you truly honor them for doing it. To honor someone i think at least for a brief second they need to have affected your life in a which you won't forget. There is much more respect and recognition in honoring someone
ReplyDeletePraise to me is very specific in that it's only through directly telling someone "good job!" Honoring someone, on the other hand, could be done in a number of ways. You could have a certain look that honors someone, or a kind of ritual you could do everyday to honor someone.
ReplyDeleteWhy not look to Aristotle to resolve this question about Aristotle?
ReplyDelete"praise comes about by holding things up to some standard"
"there is no praise of highest goods"
"no one praises happiness"
"happiness belongs among things that are honored and among ends"
Nic. Ethics 1101b20-1102a2
We might still unpack what this means and why Aristotle discusses it. What does it matter that happiness is honored rather than praised? And how are we to understand honor here in relation to other places it appears?