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[personal profile] tylik
During a conversation with Craig today (primarily about some folks in our fairly distant past) I started musing over the differences, at least in my mind, between honesty, and integrity. (Not that I'd exactly equated them, but they are often treated as kind of a package deal.)

Honesty to me is definately the lesser (and more common) one. I think of it largely on the short term -- a person can be honest, but inconstant, or have poor self knowledge, or a great capacity for self delusion. Or just poor communication skills -- people often are trying to be honest, but express themselves so poorly that they mislead by mistake. There is a kind of fundemental dishonesty I see when someone can say something one minute, and really mean it, and something contradictory the next, and really mean it too, and not really seem to have any awareness of the discrepency. But even there, there's room for a kind of innocence.

(However, just to be clear, while I can appreciate that there is a variety of innocence in such a case, I don't particularly respect it, nor do I trust it. People often find that cultivating ignorance makes their lives easier, and I really don't believe in encouraging such tactics.)

Oh, and just as a side note... on a personal level, I tend to have less trouble with people who use semantic games and evasion as a way to deliberately mislead than I do with people who out and out lie. However, while I am definately aware of this preference in myself, I don't believe I ascribe much weight to it ethically. It might have something to do with an aesthetic appreciation for things being done intelligently, because it certainly takes more wit to deceive without lying than to outright lie... but I don't think there's really much to choose from, otherwise. (I tend to put up with a lot more from people who I find interesting, which usually means intelligent. But I am deeply suspicious of this tendency.)

Integrity to me is the bigger, wider scope, one, and the one that really requires a more active approach. (You can be pretty honest, and still be a limp noodle. Not so, here.) It's not only a matter of being truthful in the moment, but taking the time to consider how one's values (and statements) play out over the course of one's life, and having the wherewithal to correct discrepencies if they occur.

For instance, if one makes a promise, and breaks it, that's fairly lacking in integrity. But... shit sometimes happen, and having broken a promise it's then important that the effected people are told, responsibility is taken, and what can be done to correct the damage is done. Depending on the circumstance, the latter actions at times might be more important than the initial breaking the promise. Trying to weasle one's way out of the promise after the fact is just beyond the pale.

And of course, and even more importantly, integrity means having the courage and making the effort to create a life that exemplifies one's values.

I know a lot of people who are reasonably honest, who don't strike me as having much integrity. (Of course "much" might be better translated as "enough" and it's all very subjective, and may have a lot to do with which areas of their lives have anything to do with me.)

I certainly can imagine people who are not at all times scrupulously honest, who however strike me as having a good deal of integrity.

Oh, and having mentioned that I'm willing to work around things like self-delusion with regard to honesty, I should also make it clear that I don't think such dodges fit at all in my personal definition of integrity. It's a much higher bar. (And in many ways a much more real one, to me. Honesty is mostly about intent. I don't think I can really discuss integrity without at least considering the actual results.)
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