Honesty vs. Loyalty

[Stephen Fischer]

Is it more important for someone to be Honest or Loyal? For me, I
think I would rather have someone be honest to me, because if they're
loyal, they could also be lying simultaneously.

[Tanya Voytus]

It's a tough question you raise, Stephen. Since you're using capital letters, you are implying that these are values placed above the individual. Maybe it's not so cut and dry as one having more value than the other. Perhaps they each have their place in different scenarios.

On Sep 26, 2011 7:20 PM, "Stephen Fischer" <stephen.fi...@gmail.com> wrote:

[lexabym...@aol.com]

I think being honest and being loyal go hand in hand. Being loyal
means that you'll stick by someone no matter what or tell them the
truth, even if they'll get mad. To me, one can't go without the other.
If my friend is loyal, they'll tell me the truth and be honest, even
if it might hurt my feelings. To be loyal to someone, sometimes you
have to tell the truth, even if it will sting them a bit. So, Loyalty
and Honesty pretty much go together in my eyes.

[Tanya Voytus]

Lexie - you make some really good points. You've found a sound way to
combine these two conceptions so that they go hand in hand.

You'll find this a lot in philosophy - the most logical route is
usually to reach some sort of compromise. However, sometimes the
challenge in philosophy is to pick a side and run with it - even if
you don't necessarily agree with it. Devil's advocate is a fun role
to play. Next time you see something up here, try, just as an
exercise, to pick one side definitively and make arguments. It's good
practice for supporting your own ideas later on.

[Jack]

Devil's advocate sounds like a pretty good choice to me.

If someone a.) never finds out you've been dishonest to them, or b.)
isn't affected by your dishonesty, is that being disloyal? my brain is
broken. sorry.

[Tanya Voytus]

Great questions you raised, jack! I would venture to say that if you're dishonest with someone but they never find out, that would still fall under being disloyal. Part of loyalty is honesty in my opinion.

However, the interesting debate that you raise is someone not knowing of your dishonesty, and does that make being loyal more important than honesty because it encompasses both things? If someone doesn't find out, has the dishonesty caused any harm?

Thoughts, anyone?

[Tanya Voytus]

From Dylan:

"Hmm, this is really interesting. Would it be dishonest to not tell
someone?

I think that the reason behind it is very important. Whether being
loyal is for the best or not- sometimes we don't realize but it could
be for the greater good.

For example: a husband cheats on his wife. She doesn't know at all,
yet they end up divorcing because of something entirely different- so
now at this point is it worth telling the wife? Or is it better to not
say anything at all?"