Integrity endangered by hypocrisy

Abstract

The paper comprises two aims. The first aim is to shed some light on the relationship between personal integrity and the narrative conception of integrity in terms of moral reliability, thereby following a line of thought put forward by a number of contemporary feminist philosophers. In what way does personal integrity indicate intactness or completeness of the person? Or do we rather have to visualize the person within certain shared narratives that constitute and maintain the self as integrated within a socially recognized context, a self which is fundamentally socially recognized? Based on these questions, the second aim is to inquire in how far and under which (personal, social, and political) circumstances a person is in danger of becoming hypocritical. As social contexts are heterogeneous and thus constituted by a plurality of narratives, some persons may find that their preferred self-constituting narratives are opposed by some other and perhaps even more powerful yet discriminating narratives. These master-narratives, despite their often asserted socially integrating function, then prove to be harmful to these persons, diminishing their chances of equal social and political recognition and threatening their possibilities to become, and be recognized as, morally reliable community members.