Honor, Anger, and Belittlement in Aristotle’s Ethics

Abstract

The author considers the phenomenon of honor (timē) by examining Aristotle’s description of it and its role in ethical and political life. His study of honor leads him to two related phenomena, anger (orgē) and belittlement or contempt (oligōria); examining them helps him define honor more precisely. With his examination of honor the author shows how densely interwoven Aristotle’s ethical theory is; he illuminates such diverse things as the human good, political life and friendship, virtue, vice, incontinence, flattery, wealth and pleasure; he shows how the metaphysical principles of dunamis and energeia are at work in human affairs; he treats the passion of anger as well as the moral attitude of contempt that provokes it, and he situates both within the study of rhetoric.