A common example: you are given too much change back when you purchase something at a grocer. Now, is it honest to give the excess change back, or to keep it?
I have heard, many times, the rationale that keeping the extra change will encourage the storekeeper to be more cautious in the future, and it is therefore good and proper -- ie: honest -- to keep the extra change. It's always interesting to play with the parameters of the example and see where people begin to shy away from the rationale as being honest, and why. For example, is the mistake only five cents, or is it five dollars. What about fifty dollars? What if you try to correct the mistake, only to have the grocer insist s/he gave you the correct change in the first place? What if, instead of money given to you by mistake, it is money you find laying in the street? How does the amount of money affect your behavior then?
Commonly, honesty is understood to be the manner of ones speaking, but it is not limited to such. If we wish to play word games with it, we could clarify the matter by stating that veracity is a property of statements made, and honesty is a property of actions taken. Thus, honesty includes the words one speaks, but it also includes what one does. Veracity, however, would apply only to statements, and would indicate how much a statement agrees with verifiable reality.
However, whichever term we use, be it honesty or veracity, the important aspect is that these terms describe properties of something that is done -- either an action or simply a statement. Ethics, however, are something a bit different. It is ethics that directs ones actions and/or words, resulting in their honesty or veracity. |
