Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Notas Integrity and Autonomy
Notas Integrity and Autonomy
pp. 39-49
Resumen:
Notas:
Page 2
Whatever integrity is, Abraham Lincoln had it, at least if the man was even
remotely similar to the legendary figure that emerges from almost all the history
books. Whatever autonomy is, most of the white citizens of the Confederacy
wanted it and Lincoln refused to give it to them.
Page 3
So, whatever integrity is, to say that Lee had integrity is not just to voice your own
agreement with Lee's opinions and values. To display integrity is not just "to do
what is right." What then is it?
, it may be set down as a condition on the adequacy of any analysis of integrity and
autonomy, that any adequate analysis should make it possible to explain why so
many people have valued integrity and autonomy so highly that they have been will
ing to pursue them virtually whatever the con sequences.
Page 4
ACTING, WITH STRENGTH OF WILL, AGAINST YOUR WILL
Richard Jeffrey (1974) in developing analyses of two puz zling concepts in moral
psychology, namely: strength of will, and having to act against your will.
Paradoxically, acting "against your will" is not naturally paired with weakness of
will. On the contrary, acting against your will may often take con siderable strength
of will
Page 5
In a nutshell, this paper will argue that integrity is the capacity to exercise strength
of will; and that autonomy entails not having to act against your will.
Page 6
Those intuitions, however, may have been skewed by a fundamental assumption
that integrity and autonomy are extremely valuable things. A simpler theory,
articulated in terms of logically higher-order and lower order desires, fails to ensure
that integrity and autonomy must always and necessarily be praiseworthy. That is
why there has been pressure to move to a more complex theory
Note that the distinction between higher order and lower-order desires is a purely
logical distinction, not a moral one
Page 7
we suppose there to be cases in which you do something that you want yourself
not to do.