And well he might be, given the research findings presented in “The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue In An Increasingly Dishonest World” ($29.95 in hardcover from Oxford University Press; also for Amazon Kindle). Written for a general audience, Miller’s book notes that “an honesty crisis occurs when there is a significant surge in dishonest behavior due to two factors: (i) dishonesty becoming easier to get away with than it was before, and (ii) dishonesty becoming more enticing or appealing to engage in.”
Though he has never visited Chico (but may on an upcoming family vacation), Miller writes me that “I have read the work of several philosophers who teach in that area, especially Troy Jollimore who is at CSU, Chico.”
Jollimore has written on friendship and the virtue of loyalty, and for Miller, “honesty is an excellence of someone’s character…. In particular, an honest person will avoid intentionally distorting or misrepresenting the world as she sees it—whether that is by telling a lie, stealing, cheating, breaking a promise, acting hypocritically, or BSing.”
Miller’s chapters focus on six crisis areas: the proliferation of deepfakes online; infidelity in relationships given porn’s availability along with “anonymous chatrooms and infidelity websites like Ashley Madison”; students using undetectable AI to cheat; the rise of celebrity culture which “creates greater opportunities to be dishonest”; pressures on religious leaders “to engage in sermon plagiarism, have inappropriate emotional and sexual relationships, and fall into the trappings of celebrity”; and in our fractured politics, the dissemination of phony “news” by social media.
There are no sure cures for dishonesty, but Miller argues that an honest society fosters trust, healthy relationships, respect for others, and lessens fear that others want to take advantage. It’s not someone else’s problem, it’s ours. If the book doesn’t make you uncomfortable, go back and read it again.
