Honesty

What Honesty means in play

You are discussing a disputed move after a tabletop game. Your friend remembers a house rule; you remember the surprise of losing a piece. Then you recall agreeing to that rule at the start. You say so. Your complaint now includes the fact that changes it: you accepted the rule before anyone played.

Honesty gives other players an account they can reasonably rely on. Describe what you saw, distinguish it from what you inferred and include a relevant fact even when it weakens your complaint. Accurate accounts help a group settle rules, learn from a confusing turn and choose how to play next time. You can be mistaken without being dishonest; the important next act may be a correction.

Finding the balance

In ordinary play

A score dispute

Distinguish a total you recorded from a number you only remember seeing.

A shared replay

Include the lead-up that explains the contested action.

Nearby virtues, different work

Fairness

Honesty makes the account trustworthy. Fairness considers the claims and evidence when deciding what should follow.

Recognizing a counterfeit

Literal truth used to mislead counterfeits Honesty. Reporting that a rule was unusual while hiding that everyone accepted it can create a false account without a false sentence. Honesty considers the impression conveyed.

Cultivating Honesty

• Separate observation, inference and uncertainty when recounting a play.
• Correct an omission that materially changes the account even if nobody has noticed it yet.

Try it today

Recount a disputed play, separating what you remember from what you inferred. Add a fact you left out if it changes the account.

Questions worth returning to

• Which detail changed the meaning of my account?
• What uncertainty should remain visible rather than be filled by a guess?

Choose your practice

These pages offer ideas for reflection and character practice, not professional advice. Choose practices suited to your circumstances and abilities. You may adapt, pause, or skip an exercise; putting yourself or someone else at risk is not proof of virtue.

Quotations and further reading

Seven readings, one for each day. All remain available here. Historical arguments and fictional dialogue are identified in their source notes.

1. So we made a game, which was not a good game, but which was very amusing once or twice.

   H. G. Wells · Little Wars
   II, The Beginnings of Modern Little Warfare
   H. G. Wells · Project Gutenberg 3691 transcription of the 1913 work; specific underlying print imprint not identified in Linked text

   Wells admits that the first version of his game was not very good. Its brief amusement and its defects both belong in an honest account of the experiment.

2. A player should scorn rewards not based on merit, and should be led to feel that a defeat resulting from an honest trial of strength is an honorable defeat …

   Jessie H. Bancroft · Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium
   To the Teacher of Games, pp. 31–32
   Jessie H. Bancroft · Project Gutenberg #25660; introduction dated March 1909; Linked text does not identify a dated title-page imprint.

   Bancroft distinguishes an earned result from an undeserved reward. A truthful score can preserve the value of the contest even when it records a loss.

3. No false move should ever be made to extricate yourself out of a difficulty, or to gain an advantage.

   Benjamin Franklin · The Morals of Chess
   Rule 3
   Benjamin Franklin · 1841 version, Wikisource transcription; original essay 1786; the preserved 1841-version transcription is the display source

   A difficult position gives no license to falsify the play. The same applies to recounting which rule the players agreed to use.

4. I find it by no means hard, or bad manners, to listen silently, and not to be so illiberal as to praise contrary to one's convictions.

   Plutarch · Morals: Ethical Essays
   On Shyness, VI
   Plutarch · Arthur Richard Shilleto translation, Bohn’s Classical Library; Project Gutenberg #23639; preface Cambridge, March 1888.
   English translation by Arthur Richard Shilleto

   In a discussion of social pressure, Plutarch allows a courteous silence instead of insincere applause. Agreement need not be manufactured to keep a conversation pleasant.

5. You expect me to account for opinions which you choose to call mine, but which I have never acknowledged.

   Jane Austen · Pride and Prejudice
   Chapter X, Darcy and Elizabeth discuss Bingley’s readiness to change a plan
   Mr. Darcy · Hugh Thomson illustrated edition with George Saintsbury preface, Project Gutenberg 1342; title-page date not identified in Linked text

   Darcy objects to being assigned a position he has not taken. A fair account should distinguish what someone said from what another person inferred.

6. To this essay I must in honesty append a word or two of qualification;

   Robert Louis Stevenson · Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers
   Ordered South, later author’s note
   Robert Louis Stevenson · 1897 Chatto & Windus edition, Project Gutenberg 386 transcription

   Stevenson adds a qualification to his earlier essay. When an account needs correction, the addition belongs where its readers can find it.

7. “But the tune isn’t his own invention,” she said to herself: “it’s ‘I give thee all, I can no more.’”

   Lewis Carroll · Through the Looking-Glass
   Chapter VIII, It’s my own Invention
   Alice, narrated by Lewis Carroll · Project Gutenberg 12 transcription; no specific historical print imprint identified in Linked text

   Alice recognizes a familiar tune behind the Knight’s claim. The scene distinguishes what someone says about a contribution from what another person can recognize.

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