The Importance of Intellectual Honesty
Description: Right now there is a phenomenon that is infecting both the left and right sides of politics. This phenomenon has a name and that name is intellectual dishonesty.
Thesis: One of the worst occurrences right now in political discussion is the complete and utter lack of intellectual honesty from individuals across the ideological spectrum.
What is Intellectual Honesty?
Intellectual honesty is the cornerstone of modern ethical discourse. It is the thinking that, whether you agree or disagree with someone’s ideology, you will not allow your beliefs regarding their opinions to alter your pursuit of the truth. The essential aspect of intellectual honesty is that you will pursue the truth even if it goes against your own previously held beliefs or narratives, and will hold principles over politics.
“[Intellectual honesty is] a virtuous disposition to eschew deception when given an incentive for deception”
— Louis M. Guenin
This is not to say that intellectual honesty requires you to be unbiased. There is no ethical fault in trying to defend your beliefs if you believe the facts support said beliefs. In fact, there is a case to be made that it is more ethical to acknowledge and be open with your biases than to seek to hide them behind a foe cover of unbiased writing since no one can truly be unbiased. Only when one begins to omit ‘problematic’ facts to keep up a narrative is that person guilty of being intellectually dishonest.
A Second Aspect
There is a second aspect of intellectual honesty that isn’t covered above, however. This rests in how one individually tests and holds their own beliefs and views. Take this example below regarding the principle of free speech:
Just weeks before Thursday, April 27th, 2017, Ann Coulter and various right-leaning student groups were still planning on having a speaking event for that day at the University of Berkeley campus. This was until it was shut down and canceled by university officials. After multiple threats and acts of violence by individuals that wished to shut down voices they disagreed with, the university sided with those individuals and refused to house the planned speech that they had previously agreed to host. This is just one of many examples of how free speech on our college campuses is suffering, and such behavior is unlikely to stop anytime soon.
Flash forward to this week in New York City. Currently, there is an ongoing production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in central park. There is a twist however as this version depicts the character of Julius Caesar as an analog to Donald Trump. (For those unaware, Julius Caesar is assassinated as part of the story which depicts politics in ancient Rome.) However, Friday Night, while the production played out, the play was interrupted by alt-right activist Laura Loomer along with some others. This group of individuals, both through taking the stage and shouting from the crowd, caused the delay of the planned and legal performance until they could be removed by police. This too was an attack on free speech as it sought to block a production because those individuals disagreed with it.
When you think about this example, did one of the disruptions seem more justified to you? When you look back on both cases, do you find yourself seeing one as limiting free speech while the other was just removing ‘unsavory’ or ‘problematic’ speech?
Thoughts such as these are, at their root, examples of intellectual dishonesty, and they aren’t at all uncommon. Being that this kind of thinking is so pervasive today, readers shouldn’t be surprised to find examples in their own thinking; I have found many in my own over the years. The above stories only cover the topic of free speech, but the intellectual honesty of anyone’s views on any given topic (whether political, cultural, or religious in nature) can be tested in a similar manner.
I strongly recommend that readers choose to think through their base reactions and morals to see if those views are intellectually honest in a variety of circumstances. I have done this personally many times and have found it effective at identifying potential areas for intellectual growth.
Why Intellectual Honesty Matters
Political thought and discourse didn’t use to be this way. This is not to say that intellectual honesty has ever held a super-majority among the populous, but that the growing divide between the right and the left has caused many to throw out intellectual honesty all together in favor of tribally protecting ‘their side’.
This variety of thought that refuses reason while choosing rashness is corrosive, infectious, and a valid threat to political science as a whole. Already, we see many on the right and left unwilling to even acknowledge valid arguments of their opposition; they instead select to demonize opponents to ‘win points’ with their political base.
Without people being willing to stand up in defense of principles over politics, the divide will only continue to worsen. Without some form of course correction, we will inevitably end up with a nearly unbridgeable gap between people who hold opposing views until one side ultimately outlaws dissenting opinions.
What Can Be Done?
It is easy to see how bad this path we are on may soon get. We need to change paths. We need to make it commonplace for everyone to think freely and seek the truth wherever it leads them. Only with that mindset can we begin to heal from this infection of intellectual dishonesty.
This will by no means be easy, but if there can be built a contingent of people who are willing to go beyond party to encourage the search for truth, why not try it. After all, if a writer, politician, or pundit believes what they are saying, why not encourage readers to look at all sides of a discussion. If they are in fact correct, people will agree because of knowledge of their own — not as mindless drones.
Isn’t that, a knowledgeable populous, what we as Americans should all really want. A country of people willing to look at all opinions in search of the truth, even if they are proved wrong. A nation where truth is valued over the loudness of one’s voice.
I believe there is a real opportunity to bring about this change, specifically through the network of Medium. This is why I decided to create this publication and begin posting ideas that may help bring this change to fruition. Anyone now has the ability to share their ideas and read new ideas in search of the truth. Now, let us use this power to restore intellectual honesty in politics.
Written by Nathan Cain for “The Simple Truth”. Feel free to contact me through Medium or simpletruthcontact@gmail.com with comments, questions, or ideas for future articles.
