I’ve been thinking about honesty over the last 10 years. It can play into at least three dynamics.
One is authority and resistance. The revelation or extraction of information, and the norms, rules, laws, and incentives surrounding this, including moral concepts, are for the primary purpose of shaping the power dynamic.
The second is practical communication. Honesty is the idea that specific people have a “right to know” certain pieces of information from you, and that you meet this obligation. There is wide latitude for “white lies,” exaggeration, storytelling, “noble lies,” self-protective omissions, image management, and so on in this conception. It’s up to the individual’s sense of integrity to figure out what the “right to know” entails in any given context.
The third is honesty as a rigid rule. Honesty is about revealing every thought that crosses your mind, regardless of the effect it has on other people. Dishonesty is considered a person’s natural and undesirable state, and the ability to reveal thoughts regardless of external considerations is considered a form of personal strength.
I’ve been thinking about honesty over the last 10 years. It can play into at least three dynamics.
One is authority and resistance. The revelation or extraction of information, and the norms, rules, laws, and incentives surrounding this, including moral concepts, are for the primary purpose of shaping the power dynamic.
The second is practical communication. Honesty is the idea that specific people have a “right to know” certain pieces of information from you, and that you meet this obligation. There is wide latitude for “white lies,” exaggeration, storytelling, “noble lies,” self-protective omissions, image management, and so on in this conception. It’s up to the individual’s sense of integrity to figure out what the “right to know” entails in any given context.
The third is honesty as a rigid rule. Honesty is about revealing every thought that crosses your mind, regardless of the effect it has on other people. Dishonesty is considered a person’s natural and undesirable state, and the ability to reveal thoughts regardless of external considerations is considered a form of personal strength.