Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah: The Honor Code

The abuse of human life that has happened over the course of history is something that no one should have ever experienced, although similar violence still goes on today. It is a question to ask as in the book Night, “Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed?” Although people have grown over time to accept people of different color, religion and believes there is still hate crimes in the world today. My paragraphs are going to take about the differences and similarities of the two books Night and Prisoner B-3087.

Farewell to Manzanar, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki and her husband James D. Houston, brings the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor to life through the the reimaging of the hardships and discrimination that Jeanne and her family endured while stationed at Manzanar. After the events of Pearl Harbor, seven year-old Jeanne is evacuated with family to an internment camp in which the family will be forced to adapt to a life in containment. Through the writings of Jeanne herself, readers are able to see Jeanne’s world through her words and experience the hardships and sacrifices that the Wakatsuki family had to go through. Farewell to Manzanar takes the reader on a journey through the eyes of a young American-Japanese girl struggling to be accepted by society.

“So, the violence is not simply a matter of retaliating against those who perpetuate evil (though such revenge can be sweet), it is a matter of serving a greater divine purpose. Ultimately that divine purpose makes the use of violence a moral (because commanded-implicitly of explicitly-by God) action.” (Bain-Selbo pg. 74)

The article forced me to ponder about the existence of unfairness and injustice which inevitably and constantly hinders society because the individual discussed in the article experiences these factors in an unusual and rather extreme circumstance. William Goldman, the author of The Princess’ Bride once rhetorically questioned, “Who says life is fair, where is [this statement] written?”, which summarizes the outcomes of life itself. Humans frequently face adversity throughout daily lives, whether minor challenges or major hurdles; these problems include unretainable lost objects or the death of a beloved individual. To others, injustice may appear judicially and politically; Ivan Henry and David Milgaard were both wrongfully convicted of sexual

In the essay “Fighting Back,” author Stanton L. Wormley Jr. explains that developing the instinct to fight back diminishes the ability to forgive. He supports this explanation by first establishing credibility with his personal experiences, then captivates the audience by presenting a powerful question, “Was I less of a man for not having beaten my attacker to a bloody pulp?” (Wormley 1). Wormley’s purpose is to illustrate the unnecessity of violence in order to also make a political statement to our country’s government. He builds a formal tone for an audience of minorities and majorities. This work is significant in bringing American society’s true image of manhood into light.

Anyway, this research will focus only on three aspects - conscience crisis, violence, and fate and destiny. These aspects will be discussed in three separate chapters under the umbrella of the selected novels of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men(1937) , The Grapes of Wrath(1939) , and The Pearl (1947) and Cormac McCarthy ’s Blood Meridian (1985) , No country for old men( 2005) , and The Road (2006) . The investigator has adopted the sociological methodology throughout the thesis. Furthermore , the second chapter - conscience crisis, will be divided into two parts ( man’s inhumanity to man and greed ).

At the beginning, Kwame Anthony Appiah introduced his article by using Lydia Davis’s writing, who was a fiction writer. The author mentioned about human behavior, and he focused more on human virtue ethics. He explained that what a person would do to help the others in a certain way as long as they believe it is the right thing. People do what they think the others are needed; they not do it because of their compassion. The author also said that ethics could develop character in each individual. It explains the way we act and treat the others. Appiah provides numerous of evidences to try to explain human behavior and the reason why we do what we do. However, most of people will do what they do, there is no reasons behind their purpose of doing something. At the end, he closed his point by saying that it is more

Our community seems to run our lives nowadays, which makes sense as it is in our human nature to want to belong. Therefore, We will do anything to belong with other people, but separating from the norm to do what’s right is something only a few have done. The separation from the norm for justice is even more admirable when the person has such respect and nobility within the norm. It takes a person with courage, strength and righteousness to be able to listen to the enemy in the possibility that they might be correct. Reverend Hale, in The Crucible, is that person with courage and the want for justice because he changed from an arrogant “witchcraft specialist” and a court member to the man trying to save the lives of those accused of witchcraft.

On August 28th, 1955, a fourteen-year-old boy from Chicago, Illinois, was mercilessly lynched by two middle-aged white men in Money, Mississippi. In a matter of minutes, the two had clawed out one of his eyes, shot him in his head, tied his neck to a cotton-gin fan, and heaved his corpse into the depths of the Tallahatchie River. That boy whose body was found nearly four days later was Emmett Till. The reason for his murder? A false accusation of indecently grabbing a white woman as he meandered out of a grocery store. Like Emmett, between 1877 and 1950, nearly 4000 black men in the south had been lynched for alleged minor social transgressions. However, unlike those victims, Emmett’s lynching was much more than just another hate-crime that would be ignored. When Emmett’s mother saw his mutilated body, she held an open-casket funeral, and at that funeral, the entire world saw how viciously her son had been slain. Jet Magazine, a popular publication at the time, presented pictures of Emmett's gruesomely disfigured remains, lighting a fire that forced the American people to address the consequences of segregation in the South. Emmett’s murder inspired the likes of Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks to adopt a deeper level of activism; a crusade that would eventually become the American Civil Rights movement.

This novel highlights the fact of the injustices people of color are faced with in everyday life. In the introduction of this book, Michelle Alexander highlights the criminal justice system and how rather than identifying people by their race, people of color are labeled as criminals. I believe the criminal justice system, racial caste, ideology, and global examples of racial caste are all connected to racial inequality.

In society, there are many standards that people must uphold to. In western society, it is uncommon for men to have long hair or for women to have short hair. Naturally, people will be conscientious of their differences between other people and try to change them or cover them up, and often times people who do not follow the standard are looked down upon. This leads to people trying to fit into the groups around them almost thoughtlessly. However, when people conform without thinking, it can lead to dangerous consequences. Often times, mindless conformity leads to senseless violence that could have been avoided with just a little more thought.

Author Barbara Smith addresses the events that evolved in the city of Los Angeles on March 3, 1991, regarding police brutality towards a black man Rodney King, before handcuffing King after a high-speed chase. Across the nation resonated a shock wave of unbelieve as the police officers involved were acquitted which sparked a violent movement in the local community (39). Barbara Smith took the opportunity to provide a rhetorical response in her book titled, “The Truth That Never Hurts” (42).

There is plenty of brutality in the world today. On the news there are many examples of hate crimes. For example, white people are killing people of color, especially African Americans, for little to no reason. In the 14th amendment, women were granted the same equal rights as men, however women are still looked down upon and get treated differently. In Copper Sun, Sharon Draper illustrates the intense brutality in America’s slave trade.

In his essay “Racial Identities” Kwame Appiah attempts to explain what authenticity is. Appiah first works to disprove other theories. He then lays out argument and then he thoroughly explains way it is a false claim. By doing this Appiah is able to refute other ideas and strengthen his own argument as well. He also argues against the idea that cultures, races and societies can have defined authenticities. Appiah claims that while race can play a role in shaping individual authenticity, it isn’t the essence of authenticity. He claims that authenticity is the way an individual lives his or her life and interacts with others; it isn’t a collection of racial ideals, but it is formed through interactions with other cultures and races and helps shape their identity (54-57). Appiah’s claim is correct. Authenticity is a way of life and an expression of personality created through interactions with other individuals that sets someone apart from others, it is the basis of personal and racial identity.

The word honor means, high respect; esteem, and in my opinion Jacques Cousteau was honorable. Honor is something earned not given and for some people, it takes a whole lifetime to figure this out. The scientists I chose to write this paper about goes above and beyond what it means to be honorable.