Let’s Question Our Beliefs As Often As We Can — Not Our Integrity

A humble reflection on integrity and hypocrisy

Image by Gerd Altmann

Principles you can ignore or change when the circumstances make them inconvenient aren’t the principles of a person of integrity. They are but bullet points in a hypocrite’s PR statement. The honestly principled person adheres to their convictions with fervour and without hesitation.

Collective vs Personal Morality

I am not a fan of many collective moral codes. I often find what society often deems as essential not to be so, and I often think it disregards points that are critically important for me. Therefore, for many years now, I have held onto my own moral code. This isn’t a perfect system, its main flaw being that I am solely in charge of it, that my bias is the only bias it must hear, that it inevitably ignores everything that I ignore. Moreover, nobody else knows what to expect of it, for nobody else knows it exists.

You Kant Do That

Consequently, my first principle is to avoid harming others as much as possible. If I am ever aware that my actions are damaging somebody else, I stop: an alarm goes off, and I retreat to the drawing board to conceive a new plan. Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative tells us to ‘act as to treat humanity, whether in…