Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. An old proverb says, “Honesty is the best policy,” but I, however, disagree with that saying. First, sometimes we have to lie to prevent hurt feelings, and sometimes when it comes to that situation it is better to lie than to tell the truth. Second, we have to tell a lie to keep others secrets, or to keep our secrets safe. Last, in order to keep customs and traditions alive, we have to lie too little, whether it is about Santa or the Easter bunny. If we lie about that I do not think it is a big deal. I do not think is it right to lie all of the time, but when it comes to certain situations like to prevent hurt feelings, to keep secrets, or about Santa I think it is okay. As can be seen, an old proverb may say that honesty is the best policy, but, again, I disagree with that.
First of all, sometimes we lie to prevent hurt feelings. I am sure we all have told a little white lie to protect others feelings. Let’s say that my friend asked me if I liked the outfit that she was wearing, and if I do not like it I am going to say I do to prevent her feelings from getting hurt, I am sure most of us do this. It is
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I think we all would do anything we could to keep a secret safe. If someone told me one of their secrets I would most defiantly keep it safe, even if I had to tell a lie to keep it safe I would. Letting certain secrets slip could lead to hurt feelings or destroy a relationship between someone, it just depends on what the secret is. I can earn my friend’s trust by telling them on of my secrets. When I tell my friend something that I do not want her to tell anyone I expect her to do so. I am sure all of us tell little lies to keep our secrets safe it does not even have to be our secret. It could be a friend’s secret or even a family members. All in all, sometimes I have to lie to keep a secret
Plato once said: “Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.” People are taught from a very young age never to lie or keep secrets. It would be easy for anyone to stand behind the argument: “Honesty is the best policy,” but in times of personal anguish, that decree is quickly disdained. What this argument fails to consider is that keeping a secret or lying is the justifiable in times of crisis.
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, lying means to tell an account of an untrue event or give false information.
Welty's honest tone draws readers more closely to her emotions regarding literature through phrases like "the feeling that resides in the printed word, reaches me through the reader-voice" and "whether I'm right to trust so far I don't know". Welty uses words like "truth" and "trust" in order to express her abstract emotions in a way that the reader can understand, but that is also representative of her actual feelings. She writes, "the sound of what falls on the page begins the process of testing it for truth" and "I have always trusted this voice". When people write, the words tend to resound inside their own heads as they go. By "truth", Welty means how "right" or "correct" the words sound together. This not only refers to grammar, but also
I do not believe that anyone should get their feelings hurt when just saying an innocent white lie could save them so much drama. Also protective lies are very important to me. If someone is dealing with a lot of stress or a deathly illness, there is no need to put more on them. However, when it comes to peace keeping lies, I believe that they should not be used. These lies are very hard not to use, and I find myself using them despite my hardest efforts. Trust-keeping lies are one of the worst lies because I feel forced to choose between my personal morals and a friendship. Although I try not to lie at all, I find that social lies and protective lies are the most acceptable. I find that peace-keeping lies and trust-keeping lies are unacceptable yet I still understand that sometimes they are
Lying is morally forbidden under any and all circumstances. These are words that Immanuel Kant believed and preached. Kant did not believe a person should lie even if good consequences could result from the lie. According to Kant we are morally obligated to be honest. He was a man who was set in his beliefs and lying was simply not tolerated. Kant did not believe that there was any morally correct way to lie. He held that even in extreme cases of an “Inquiring Murderer” we must still tell the truth. Even if lying to that “Inquiring Murderer” could save someone’s life, telling the truth is the morally right thing to do.
Traditionally, it is agreed that any and every form of telling the truth is always the best thing to do. In the essays of Stephen L Carter and Stephanie Ericsson, this ideal is not exactly true. It is expressed in "The Insufficiency of Honesty" as well as "The Ways We Lie" that honesty is hard to come by and that there is more to it than believed. The authors convey their views by first defining what the concept is, picking it apart, and then use common occurrences for examples of the points they had made.
Based on Merriam-Webster, Integrity means to have the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. In the article “The Insufficiency of Honesty” by Stephen Carter, the author described that Integrity is a form of honesty, although honesty itself stand for something else. This is why he sees those two virtues as partly different . Carter realized this difference between complete truth and righteousness. Honesty is to tell the complete truth, but integrity is more about righteousness. Sometimes telling the truth could hurt somebody’s feelings which could be a disaster. “The truth hurts”, but having integrity means to not only be a truthful person, but one with moral values, being able to put other’s first and being able to keep promise. Equaling honesty to integrity is downgrading the great meaning behind the word as the author stated one person “may tell us quite truthfully what they believe without ever taking the time to figure out whether what they believe is good and r...
Through out history people have been influenced by what they want to hear and the way a current trend is happening. The evolution of mankind has drifted towards a different society than what we where born to sustain. We are emotionally driven human beings that want to feel accepted by the rules of society. Sometimes an individual can confuse actions or emotions towards trying to fulfill the standards society has imposed. I have analyzed two articles that incorporate how a society reacts towards integrity as well as honesty and the belief that an individual in order to be a part of society one must comply with the standards that are set. As I began to interpret what Stephen L. Carter explained in “The Insufficiency of Honesty” I examined they
Honesty is the best policy. It is a virtue that we all must aim for to have a peaceful and serene life. It is a foundation to a healthy relationship dealing with the people in our lives, whether they are our parents, friends or brothers and sisters. There isn’t a healthy relationship without trust and that is how you gain honesty. Being honest avoids trouble and makes your life easier instead of worrying about things that you have lied about and implying stress on yourself.
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
Admit it: You 've lied. We all have at some stage or point in our life. Whether you 're asserting your feelings, getting it off your chest or just being plain and distinctly honest, the truth about honesty is that honesty isn 't always the best artery of choice. What 's more, striving on the avenue of complete disclosure can drive an unwanted wedge and result in permanent closure on a relationship. Today, the consequences of lying are often veiled from reality, the unvarnished truth is, we don 't need weapons to fatally hurt those closest to us as the act can be equally carried out with the sharp verbal cuts of a truthful tongue.
Honesty is a characteristic that everyone should possess. However, being honest is a difficult task for many people. Living honestly means allowing a person’s true self to be exposed to others. Honesty is considered owning up to one’s wrongdoings and not lying, cheating, or stealing. Being honest is a trait that many people believe is obsolete. Even though every person interprets honesty differently, it all stems back to telling the truth. Being honest allows a person to earn respect from their peers. Honesty is allowing oneself to be completely exposed by being truthful.
Secondly, it is okay to be untruthful if you are trying to protect people. In certain situations, it is safer, and more practical for you to tell a lie rather than putting a loved one in jeopardy. To illustrate you may be in a situation where you are in a serious or dangerous situation, and you do not what anyone else involved, to keep them safe. For example, if you are getting held up for ransom, would you tell the truth to a loved one and get them involved, or lie and keep them safe? The obvious answer is to keep them safe at all costs, even if it means lying. Also, you do not want to put someone in harm’s way, so it would be ...
Honesty and integrity are very important in the medical field. We as healthcare workers are given such trust and responsibility. We should always strive to do our best and when faced with tough situations. When we don't always know what to do or the proper way to react we should always be honest. Let our superiors know what is going on and ask for advice when we need to. This would show that we are honest. When we come into contact with patients they rely on us to do the right thing and always perform our job with integrity. Often people’s lives are in our hands. We have to care about the patient and care about our job in order to continue to provide quality care. If someone hates their job they are not going to give their best in every way they can. The medical field is not a place for that person.
Telling the truth teaches one person self- respect for themselves and others as well. Telling the truth also sets a good example for others to do the same thing and make a “chain reaction”. People can make a “chain reaction” by passing on what they have done from one person to another, and before you know it, everyone is changing greatly, and the world is progressing tremendously. Lies are told all around the world, and they are told every day. One lie can often lead to another lie and cause you to be caught up in one big lie that will be hard to get out of if people do not tell the truth. If a person thinks that is okay to lie, they better think again, the truth always comes out no matter how hard a person tries to keep it in, or how much someone thinks that they can get away with lying. No person can keep in or hold a grudge with what they have done. After all, telling the truth is the right thing to do, and everyone should do it. Telling the truth is always much easier than the trouble of a