Honesty and Intimacy

Bibliographic Data

ID2930766
AuthorsHugh Lafollette (0000-0002-6930-1130, East Tennesse State University, USA), George Graham (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Year1986
Volume3
Issue1
Pages3-18
Publication date1986-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social and Personal Relationships (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-4075 • E-ISSN: 1460-3608
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0265407586031001
OpenAlexW2162266228
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited3

Current professional and lay lore overlook the role of honesty in developing and sustaining intimate relationships. We wish to assert its importance. We begin by analysing the notion of intimacy. An intimate encounter or exchange, we argue, is one in which one verbally or non-verbally privately reveals something about oneself, and does so in a sensitive, trusting way. An intimate relationship is one marked by regular intimate encounters or exchanges. Then, we consider two sorts of cases where it is widely thought permissible, if not laudatory, to lie to one's intimates. In discrediting these presumably central cases of justified dishonesty, we put forward general considerations requiring honesty. We end by suggesting how `metahonesty' - honesty about one's own efforts at communication, including one's efforts to be honest - is particularly important in intimate relationships

Dishonesty · Honesty · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Psychology · Social Psychology

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