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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Here is an approach to honesty that has worked well for me over a period of years with co-workers, random people, wives, children, and subordinates.

1. Tell the truth. Don't lie.2. Sometimes the truth you owe people is "That's none of your business."

I have not particularly tried this approach with bosses, policemen, judges, or IRS agents.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

To a virtue ethicist, this doesn't seem like so much of a dilemma. Honesty is a virtue - that suggests that it is the mean between extremes. The value with respect to honesty is truth-telling. Too little truth-telling is a vice, often simply called "dishonesty". However, telling the truth all the time is also not being honest - that would be telling the truth too much. We perhaps call this "being a stickler" (depending on context).

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