Thursday, August 15, 2019
Honesty â⬠the Best Policy Essay
Honesty is the human quality of communicating and acting truthful and with fairness, as best one is able. It is related to truth as a value. This includes listening, reasoning and any action in the human repertoire ââ¬â as well as speaking. Superficially, honesty means simply, stating facts and views as best one truly believes them to be. It includes both honesty to others, and to oneself (see: self-deception) and about ones own motives and inner reality. Western views on honestyà Since the quality of honesty applies to all behaviors, one cannot refuse to consider factual information, for example, in an unbiased manner and still claim that oneââ¬â¢s knowledge, belief or position is an attempt to be truthful. Such a belief is clearly a product of oneââ¬â¢s desires and simply has nothing to do with the human ability to know. Basing oneââ¬â¢s positions on what one wants ââ¬â rather than unbiased evidence gathering ââ¬â is dishonest even when good intentions can be cited ââ¬â after all even Hitler could cite good intentions and intended glory for a select group of people. Clearly then, an unbiased approach to the truth is a requirement of honesty. Because intentions are closely related to fairness and certainly affect the degree of honesty/dishonesty, there is a wide spread confusion about honestyââ¬âand a general belief that being dishonest means that one alwaysà correctly understands if their behavior is either honest or dishonest. Self-perception of our morality is non-static and volatile. Itââ¬â¢s often at the moment we refuse to consider other perspectives that there is a clear indication we are not pursuing the truth, rather than simply and exclusively at the moment we can muster up evidence that we are right. Socrates had much to say about truth, honesty and morality, and explained that if people really understood that their behavior was wrong ââ¬â then they simply wouldnââ¬â¢t do it ââ¬â by definition. Unfortunately, honesty in the western tradition has been marginalized to specific instances ââ¬â perhaps because a thorough understanding of honesty collides with ideologies of all types. Ideologies and idealism often exaggerate and suppress evidence in order to support their perspectives ââ¬â at the expense of the truth. This process erodes the ractice and understanding of honesty. To an ideologist the truth quite often becomes insignificant, what matters most are their ideals and what ever supports their desires to enjoy and spread those ideals. Human beings are inherently biased about what they believe to be good due to individual tastes & backgrounds, but once one understands that a decidedly biased approach to what is true ââ¬â is inherently dishonest, one can also understand how idealism and ideology have poorly served the quest for an honest, moral society. Both honesty and morality require that we base our opinions about what is good ââ¬â upon unbiased ideas of what is TRUE ââ¬â rather than vice versa (determining what is true based on what we feel is good) ââ¬â the way all ideologies would have us believe. The studies of Confucius about honesty Confucius recognized several levels of honesty, fundamental to his ethics: His shallowest concept of honesty was implied in his notion of Li: all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society ââ¬â aiming at meeting their surface desires of a person either immediately (bad) or longer term (good). To admit that one sought immediate gratification could however make a bad act better, and to hide oneââ¬â¢s long term goals could cloud a good act. A key principle was that a ââ¬Å"gentlemanâ⬠must strive to convey his feelings honestly on his face, so that these could help each other coordinate for long term gain for all. So there was a visible relation between time horizon, etiquette and oneââ¬â¢s image of oneself even in the mirror. This generates self-honesty and keeps such activities as business calm, unsurprising, and aboveboard. In this conception, one is honest because it suits oneââ¬â¢s own self-interest only. Deeper than Li was Yi or righteousness. Rather than pursuing your own interests you should do what is right and moral ââ¬â based on reciprocity. Here too time is central, but as a time span: since your parents spent your first three years raising you, you spent three mourning them after they die. At this level one is honest about oneââ¬â¢s obligations and duty. Even with no one else to keep you honest or to relate to directly, a deeply honest person ould relate to ancestors as if they were alive and would not act in ways that would make them ashamed. This was part of the moral code that included ancestor worship, but Confucius had made it rigorous. The deepest level of honesty was Ren, out of which flowed Yi and thus Li. Confuciusââ¬â¢ morality was based upon empathy and understanding others, which required understanding oneââ¬â¢s own moral core first, rather than on divinely ordained rules, which could simply be obeyed. The Confucian version of the Golden Rule was to treat your inferiors as you would want your superiors to treat you. Virtue under Confucius is based upon harmony with others and a recognition of the honest reality that eventually (say in old age) one will come under the power of others (say oneââ¬â¢s children). So this level of honesty is to actually put oneself in context of oneââ¬â¢s whole life and future generations ââ¬â and choose to do or say nothing that would not reflect oneââ¬â¢s familyââ¬â¢s honour and reputation for honesty and acceptance of truth, such as eventual death. Partially because of incomplete understanding of these deeper notions of honesty among Westerners, in Asian countries it is common to refer to those who do not have them as barbarians. While sometimes Asian cultures sanction an almost intolerable degree of delay and ambiguity for Western tastes, it is very often to avoid lying, or giving a positive impression where doubt exists. These would be thought dishonest by Asians. Thus pressing for a decision on a matter where it is not yet possible to give an honest commitment or answer is seen as extremely rude ââ¬â in effect, forcing someone to choose to be either rude or dishonest. Both being unthinkable in traditional culture, one thus delays. A Buddhist teaching on honesty Thanissaro Bhikkhu taught: ââ¬Å"Real honesty is being honest about what your possibilities are, what your potentials are. Thats where true honesty lies. It stretches us. Itââ¬â¢s not simply admitting where we are ââ¬â thatââ¬â¢s a beginning step, itââ¬â¢s not the end step. So be honest about where you are but also be honest about what your possibilities are. That keeps the challenge of the path always before us. ââ¬
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment