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Can You Keep Your Integrity?
11–20 of 21 posts
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#12A really nice article. I always wonder about the psychology of dishonest people and I really like the explanation about the brain filling the gap for the cheating person. In a related question I always though that there was a complex relation between the feeling of honesty and a dishonest behavior. Example 1: Crook says: "Well of course buy my product." ("I know that it is a lie but you will buy it because you are a…
I think there's a lot of victim complex in it too, as in people see themselves as deserving a break, and others punishment, such that harming others for personal gain is justified.
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#13unfortunately integrity and business success are often negatively correlated (asserted without proof...)
My my, what an unpatriotic attitude.
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#14I find it's a lot easier and effective to have integrity if you have a practical moral code that aligns with human nature/emotions instead of platonic societal ideals of integrity. For instance, not cheating is a big one that I have disagreement with. We are naturally inclined as humans not to be monogamous, so to feel guilty for wanting to cheat or even going through with the act is self-defeating.
More important are questions like the "why" of cheating than the "what". Is the relationship dysfunctional? Is it just a fling? etc etc. And are my or my partners life actually negatively affected by it?
Do you have less integrity if you cheat? Maybe. But I think integrity is the art of balancing societal expectations, platonic ideals, and actual human nature/instincts. Adhering to a strict moral code doesn't make you a good person. If anything it makes you bitter, narcissistic, and resentful of other people.
Contributing to society on the whole is what counts.
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#15My interest is not just knowing if I can keep my integrity, but how to keep it. What beliefs and behaviors motivate integrity? For me, I remember a simple realization. Once I was alone in an elevator, tired. I slouched, a behavior I don't like. For some reason it dawned on me that slouching when no one could see me mattered as much as any in public. I extrapolated from this otherwise trivial observation to everything…
Basically, it boils down to discipline. Discipline allows you to do whatever you want. If you think "This sounds silly, I live in a free world, I can do what I want", think again: All of us had a day during which we went "Meh, I can't do sports/write in my book/practice/work on my toy project, it's way too warm/cold/early/late". That's an instance where you can't do what you want, because you lack discipline.
Once you acquire a strong discipline, you just need to go the right path even in the small things and you are very, very integer.
It won't be easy, because if you are integer, you will just go your path and collide with stuff and it will hurt and discomfort everyone involved. But then again, that's the point of discipline: You can do what you want, even if it's hard.
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#16My interest is not just knowing if I can keep my integrity, but how to keep it. What beliefs and behaviors motivate integrity? For me, I remember a simple realization. Once I was alone in an elevator, tired. I slouched, a behavior I don't like. For some reason it dawned on me that slouching when no one could see me mattered as much as any in public. I extrapolated from this otherwise trivial observation to everything…
>>"It matters even when no one can see"
This reminded me of Steve Jobs's father, who was a carpenter I believe. Steve shared an anecdote where his father would refuse to use cheap wood for the backs of cabinets, even though they wouldn't be visible.
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#17Every example in the article can be presented as: "Do I value what I think of me more than what others think of me?"
Only if you happen to agree with this guy's value judgments.
He counts ad blocking and "pirating movies" as unethical! The former assumes some nonexistent contract obligating people to do whatever a website asks, and the latter amounts to "whatever Congress decided to put in current law is your ethical obligation". Lots of principled people disagree on each of those.
Then he goes on to treat his value judgments as if they were statements of objective facts, and examines the mentality supposedly involved in rationalizing conduct he assumes is unethical - leaving a gap in his reasoning, at best. You can't reduce ethics to psychology.
It would have been more interesting if he'd taken on bigger issues. For example, "(How) can I make an honest living if all my job prospects involve exploitive practices? Is there a third way between being an antisocial hermit and a capitalistic sociopath?"
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#18The name/theme of the site really put me off. It suggests an audience of men who are so insecure they feel they have to live up to some imaginary ideal of "manliness". Isn't being a good person more suitable, with maybe some minor variations in particulars based on one's sex.
This also makes the article rather misplaced, by implication. Isn't integrity equally a virtue for women as well? Placing this whole concept under the banner of "manliness" indicates a rather warped perspective, IMHO.
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#19The name/theme of the site really put me off. It suggests an audience of men who are so insecure they feel they have to live up to some imaginary ideal of "manliness". Isn't being a good person more suitable, with maybe some minor variations in particulars based on one's sex. This also makes the article rather misplaced, by implication. Isn't integrity equally a virtue for women as well? Placing this whole concept un…
They have articles on shaving too, does this imply that women don't shave? I bet they have articles on automotive repair, it must mean they don't think the broads can handle it.
Gender should not have to be sanitized from everything for it to be acceptable. It's simple existence does not actually imply anything.
Re: Can You Keep Your Integrity?
#20My interest is not just knowing if I can keep my integrity, but how to keep it. What beliefs and behaviors motivate integrity? For me, I remember a simple realization. Once I was alone in an elevator, tired. I slouched, a behavior I don't like. For some reason it dawned on me that slouching when no one could see me mattered as much as any in public. I extrapolated from this otherwise trivial observation to everything…
Integrity means exactly what you extrapolated. Let me rephrase your extrapolation: "Integrity matters only when no one can see". What matters when ""others one can see" is called social contract.