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honesty ceases to be relevant to the real-world self-interest of the individual, it is no longer genuine honesty; it becomes the floating abstraction of "brutal frankness"detached from reality in that it has no purpose, use, or application other than to frustrate the aims of the "brutally frank" person and to insult those around him.

The genuinely honest person will recognize that a vast number of people exist who are only partially rational; he will recognize that he can gain many values by interacting with such people's rational facets. If he is honest with himself, he will recognize that he risks losing these genuine values if he vocally condemns those people for their less than fully rational attributes. He will furthermore acknowledge that he holds no responsibility for those people's negative characteristics, nor is he obligated to correct them. If he wishes to correct them nonetheless, he can remain honest with himself by acknowledging that he can improve others most effectively when he focuses on their positive attributes and thereby encourages them to develop the positives at the expense of the negatives. At the same time, he will steadfastlythough often silentlyrefuse to assist others in amplifying their negative attributes or in conducting negative actions.

One aspect of life in which the honest man will never fail to be fully true and open with other people is in fulfilling explicit promises to themsuch as business contracts, explicit mutual agreements, or personal guarantees. The rational man only makes promises when he knows that he can keep them and that it is in his self-interest to do so.

Ayn Rand recognized the crucial importance of honesty and included it in her list of the seven cardinal Objectivist virtues precisely because the rewards of honesty are real. They do not consist of performing the "duty" of honesty for its own sake; rather, they are the tangible material benefits that individuals receive from being true to themselves and true to others when it benefits them. The honest person develops a reputation for never deceiving himself or misrepresenting reality to rational people; this reputation gives others an incentive to interact with him to achieve mutual gains. He also becomes known for focusing on and cultivating the positive values others can offer himand thus receives ever more such values. Actions have consequences, and honest actions yield ample fruit.

Learn more about this author, G. Stolyarov II.
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