Status in an honor culture, ironically, seems to be about how much you can cheat 🤔
The gods are seen to favor you in proportion to how much cheating they let you get away with.
This is a big theme in the Mahabharata. 90% of the cheating in it is by the god-favored ‘good guys’.
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...I do think you make a great point and find this stuff fascinating.
I generally see it as a problem to be solved rather than a condemnation of honor itself. But Mahabharata did deeply offend my sensibilities when I was first introduced to it, so there is that. 😀
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Well you’re strongly deontological plus some virtue iirc. The Mahabharata is unabashedly consequentialist.
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I am pretty much on the side of virtue ethics, but I think you are right that I have strong deontological roots. Those damn consequentialists and their epics... 🤮😜
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Ie as god he’s above the law and can sanction breaking it in order to fix it. Notably in the Mahabharata every significant breaking of the rules is not just sanctioned but suggested by Krishna. If he weren’t considered an incarnation he’d be considered a sociopath.
Equally notably, the villains of the story, the Kauravas, also have a sociopath uncle, Sakuni, who also suggests rule breaks. But he’s not God incarnate so he can’t get away with it. He’s actually what would today be called an Afghan warlord (king of Gandhara/Kandahar)
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The verse in question is Gita 4.7-4.8
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