Honesty and the Truth: Against Subjectivism About Honesty
Matt Dougherty
Abstract
The notion of truth is clearly central to our understanding of honesty. But we typically think of honesty and truth as merely indirectly related. We think of honesty as directly implying truthfulness but not truth itself.Footnote 1 And this is probably because truth is neither necessary nor sufficient for honesty. An assertion, for instance, can be honest without being true, and it can also be true without being honest. As Christian Miller (2020; 2021) expresses the conception of honesty that can seem to result, honesty concerns the facts merely as the agent sees them – being honest concerns “getting things right” merely subjectively, rather than objectively.
Topics & Concepts
HonestySubjectivismOntologyInternational political economyPhilosophyEpistemologyPublic international lawPsychologyPolitical scienceSocial psychologyLawPoliticsInternational lawPsychology of Moral and Emotional JudgmentEpistemology, Ethics, and MetaphysicsFree Will and Agency