Stephen L Carter explains to me that there is a difference between honesty and integrity. You can have honesty, but not integrity. Integrity, according to him, is not just about stating the truth. Integrity is about knowing what is morally right and wrong and constantly acting upon the right morals. One person's idea of honesty could be completely different from another person's idea of honesty, depending on what each individual was raised to believe. So one could not say who is being dishonest, because we are all partial to our own opinions. However, integrity means you are aware of the general populations ideas of what is right and wrong, (ex. murder is wrong) and you agree, and you act upon that agreement (ex. you do not commit murder).
Carter uses an excellent example in the essay, concerning a man confessing to his wife on his deathbed of an affair he had while married. The man had cheated years before, and decided that before he died, he needed to be honest to his wife and tell her. How convenient that he might have thought once he told her the truth, all would be well and forgiven. If this man had any integrity, he would have understood, and agreed that cheating on a spouse is considered morally wrong, and he never would have cheated in the first place. Instead, as Carter says, the cheating husband "shifted to his wife the burden of confusion and pain..."
After reading this essay, I can clearly define to myself the meaning of integrity. I understand it really has nothing to do with honesty, and I can see how the two terms can be mistaken for each other. A person has to really stop and think about each action they perform, whether its their opinion of something, or something they say or do, and decide what is best for the moral beliefs of all in the community.
Hi Carrie,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I just want to tell you that I really like how you wrote this dialogue. I will be sure to try to set mine up this way the next time I need to write a dialogue, it was easy to read and follow.
Now on to your paper I must agree with you. You can have honesty and not have integrity. I think that just because you are honest does not mean that you are doing the right a moral thing. In fact you gave the perfect example why being honest is sometimes not in a person best interest. I also had a hard time with the fact that Stephen thinks that you can base integrity on people’s ideas of what is right and wrong. Most people base what is right and wrong on how they were taught. Therefore, sometimes what were taught goes against what integrity means. Example Islam extremist might say that someone who straps on a bomb and blows incent people up has integrity. Because the definition of integrity is, “Dictionary.com # 1 Adherence to moral and ethical principles”. Now Islam might say that this person had ethical principles by what he or she did. Back in the day, everyone went by the Ten Commandments and we knew what was morally right and wrong. Not everyone lives by these commandments any more. So like you said we are now at the mercy of the general populations idea or what right and wrong. I wonder what it is today and will be in the future. Thanks for sharing your insight I enjoyed reading it.
Hi Carrie,
ReplyDeleteWhat's crucial in Carter's definition is that people need to engage in discernment. For many people, they accept and/or adopt ideas from society, their families, the media, friends, etc. without first engaging in critical thinking to decide for themselves. Take for instance the arguments about gender. Clearly, people are not in agreement about gender roles and how people ought to act depending on their sex. The real issue isn't the fact that we're not in agreement; rather the issue is that people aren't engaging in discernment/critical thinking about it. People need to evaluate their ideas, determine where they came from, judge the evidence and then arrive at a stance that manifests their critical thinking. This kind of discernment will help us move past stereotypes and "lies" we might have about gender.
In terms of the husband, he never engaged in discernment. If he had engaged in discernment before having the affair, he probably would have weighed his desire to cheat against society's rules about marriage, his wife's feelings, and his own desire to remain married. Instead, he put himself first and had the affair. He put himself first again when he decided to keep the affair a secret. Once again, he put himself first when he decided to tell his wife the "truth" to unburden himself before death. But the real truth is that he had no integrity. He didn't engage in the process of integrity, which means discernment and critical thinking.
One thing we could think about are the agreed upon rules that should govern our lives. Maybe we can't agree on big issues like the death penalty, etc, but can't we agree on value? Maybe acting solely out of self-interest is one of those things we can agree lacks integrity?
Thanks for giving me more to think about!
Take care,
Lauren
Hi, I liked how you mentioned, "You can have honesty, but not integrity". It really is true. After reading this story, I now know the difference between honesty and integrity.You also mentioned the story about the husband and the wife situation. It seems everyone understands his meaning more and the example to define that is the husband/wife story.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I liked reading your thoughts,
LESLEY
Hi Carrie-
ReplyDeleteI like your writing on what you think integrity is. I think that everyone has an idea of what integrity is, its more the fact that people to do not act on it. they tend to justify honesty and then say that they live with integrity. O also used the example about the husband in my writing, I thought that it was a great example of integrity. Thanks for the great blog!
Emily
Carrie,
ReplyDeleteI too have a much more clear definition and understanding between the differences of honesty and integrity. But I slightly disagree when you said "I understand it really had nothing to do with honesty..." I think it does. You must be honest with yourself and show up for life. In order to follow through with you commitments and goals you've got to see things clearly and that sarts with being true to yourself. On the other hand you had a lot of good points. I like how you made me think and write about this in a different way. Thank you for your time.
Reading Stephen Carter essay gave me a better understanding of what integrity actually means and your summary of it made it more firm.
ReplyDelete