Intellectual honesty is a procedure for solving problems in a way that is unbiased and honest. The beliefs of an intellectually honest person do not affect the truth. This article presents how intellectual honesty can be applied in dissertation writing.
Show Illiteracy
An intellectually honest person should show literacy when he does not have evidence for answering the argument. This is the best way to start an inquiry. Lack of knowledge on a specific topic always gives a good beginning point.
Logical Fallacies
Logical fallacies are a major fear towards the sound thinking mindset. An intellectual honest should study them to recognise them in our thinking and the arguments of others. The person should expunge fallacies for his discourses and apologise if he unintentionally utilises them.
Provision of Evidence
An intellectually honest person provides evidence for all the things he argues on. Unavailability of the evidence is not evidence of absence regarding information, or literature. It isn’t very ethical to say you that you don’t have any evidence. If the writer doesn’t know, he should give evidence, and logical arguments to support it.
Quoting Conflicting Evidence
An intellectually honest person presents the evidence that is against his argument when there is conflicting evidence. He bases his argument on both balancing pieces of evidence, as well as the evidence against it.
Avoid Sceptic’s Fallacy
An intellectually honest person should be aware of errors that damage the truth. Sometimes people believe that something is false, and sometimes they don’t unintentionally believe that something is true. Both types of errors affect the truth. That is why he should avoid sceptic’s fallacy.
Avoid Laying
A person with intellectual honesty should avoid lying. This is because lying is unethical in various ways. It hides the truth, and confuses the other person. Every person has the right to know the truth about any aspect. But when he lies about something, he steals this right. Being intellectually honest does not only mean that he should know the truth, but it also means that everyone knows the truth.
Always Tell Truth
The standard of telling the truth is not an absolute one. It should be balanced against the moral imperative not to damage other people. Even if some truths seem harmful, he should tell the truth. Although the truth is harmful, it still is true and based on reality. An intellectually honest person should always tell the truth, ranging from something that clashes against our lifestyle to something that can harm people. If a person with intellectual honesty knows that the truth will harm somebody, he should not disseminate it. He should have the moral obligation to keep it hidden. For instance, scientific results that may encourage racism and sexism should be challenged with care. Truths like these should not be disseminated until they’ve been investigated.
False Telling
Lying is not the only way to make a false statement. Several ways can be adopted for not telling the truth. People can give the impression of telling the whole truth while they, in reality are missing so much. This fact does not mean that a person with intellectual honesty has to tell everything he knows. He can keep some secrets as well. This means that it’s unethical to tell some facts selectively, and hide others for supporting an argument. Another way is misinterpreting things, or the degree of their knowledge. Unfortunately, it is quite common to bolster ego through the aspect of bragging. As you brag how much you know about the topic that you’ve not studied in depth. People also use other ways to divert the truth for their advantage. These include examples such as exaggerations, personal attacks, and other tricks.
Avoid Hypocrisy
An intellectually honest person should know that hypocrisy is also unethical for any academic writing task. This rule enforces that if someone knows the truth, he must work accordingly. He should recognise the truth as well. If he does not recognise the truth, he must tell the reasons as to why he is doing so.
Avoid Wishful Thinking
An intellectually honest person should avoid wishful thinking. He must involve statistics for the facts irrespective of his believes. He must also be aware of his insecurities and biases so that they don’t affect the truth.