He scoffed at those, like the professors from whom he learned the fact-value distinction, who still lived their lives as if there were truth-value to value claims. When caught, he defended his actions in terms of the fact-value distinction.
This concept of wholeness emphasizes honesty and authenticity, requiring that one act at all times in accordance with the individual's chosen worldview.Įthical integrity is not synonymous with the good, as Zuckert and Zuckert show about Ted Bundy:
The concept of integrity implies a wholeness, a comprehensive corpus of beliefs often referred to as a worldview. The philosopher Immanuel Kant formally described the principle of universal application in his categorical imperative. For example, one should not steal unless one would want to live in a world in which everyone was a thief. In personal ethics, this principle requires that one should not act according to any rule that one would not wish to see universally followed. In law, this principle of universal application requires that even those in positions of official power can be subjected to the same laws as pertain to their fellow citizens. One essential aspect of a consistent framework is its avoidance of any unwarranted (arbitrary) exceptions for a particular person or group-especially the person or group that holds the framework. Integrity can be seen as the state or condition of having such a framework and acting congruently within the given framework. Because such flexibility is a form of accountability, it is regarded as a moral responsibility as well as a virtue.Īn individual value system provides a framework within which the individual acts in ways that are consistent and expected. An individual must, therefore, be flexible and willing to adjust these values to maintain consistency when these values are challenged-such as when an expected test result is not congruent with all observed outcomes. One can describe a person as having ethical integrity to the extent that the individual's actions, beliefs, methods, measures, and principles all derive from a single core group of values. These principles should uniformly adhere to sound logical axioms or postulates. In ethics when we are discussing about behaviour and morality, an individual is said to possess the virtue of integrity if the individual's actions are based upon an internally consistent framework of principles.
As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold. In this context, integrity is the inner sense of "wholeness" deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character.
The word integrity evolved from the Latin adjective integer, meaning whole or complete. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy, in that judging with the standards of integrity involves regarding internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding within themselves apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. For other uses, see Integrity (disambiguation). This article is about the ethical concept.
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