The Honesty Policy

There is less than meets the eye to the popular Principle 'Honesty is the best policy', for 'honesty' means merely 'honorable conduct', which is hardly illuminating in the context. What it more obviously means is 'truthfulness', but the latter is still ambiguous. For some, 'being truthful' means to 'forthrightly express one's feelings'. But this entails the expression of hate and bigotry, which, undeniably, have been honored in American society in recent decades, and, so, may qualify as a 'best policy' only if one's aim is to breed antagonism. Given that many of today's hate-mongers seem taken aback when not welcomed in societal spheres outside their own, breeding antagonism cannot be their aim. The most common use of the Principle, rather, is in the context of Self-Interested activities, in which profitable lying is an option, to advise that Truthfulness is always the best means to gain. Given the ample empirical evidence to the contrary, the basis of that advice is unclear, and its advocates are often reduced to invoking some vague formula of Cosmological Justice to validate it, e. g. 'Karma', 'The Invisible Hand of the Market', etc. That the profitability of Truthfulness is not self-evident is an indication that Truth exceeds the sphere of personal interests. A policy of Truthfulness, in a broader sense, would advise the pursuit of Truth itself, i. e. would be a Principle of continual learning. In other words, to be Truthful is to Evolve, a sense in which Honesty is indeed the best Policy.