Integrity as a Philosophical Concept

Integrity as a Philosophical Concept

  • Submitted By: Bammy08
  • Date Submitted: 10/25/2008 6:31 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 829
  • Page: 4
  • Views: 3

Integrity as a philosophical concept

“Integrity” a word that has been thrown around rather loosely with a lot of its meaning Changed though interpretation of others. The dictionary meaning of integrity from Wikipedia is;
“Steadfast, adherence to a strict moral or ethical code
The state of being wholesome; unimpaired
The quality or condition of being complete; pure”

In Raimond Gaitas novel this word is not shaped and controlled by one meaning it is shown to the reader through several examples for each reader to interpret. This is one of the best ways to explore integrity, because it’s almost impossible to grasp a full understanding of the word through a simple dictionary meaning. The concept of integrity from a philosophical point of view stretches further than one example like honesty; it covers it collectively as a whole to make up the base of integrity, from ones morals through to the idea of being complete.

One of the famous scenes within the novel Romulus My Father, where Raimond steels his fathers razor and breaks it by mistake. All Romulus cares about is his son telling the truth and being honest with him. This is just one element of integrity that is portrayed within the novel. There is only a small part within this scene about the razor because it is mealy used as a tool to demonstrate a part of Romulus own socialised integrity. It focuses more on the concept of integrity that Romulus is trying to pass on to his son? Both Romulus and Raimond develop integrity within the novel but in two different ways, that run parallel with each other which complemented and clashed with each other. While Romulus develops what is regarded as social integrity he lacks his own personal integrity because of his illness Bi polar. This makes it almost impossible to grasp any sort of personal integrity because his views and perception of what’s going on around him and the way he acts is skewed by his delusional actions. The level of integrity he developed was on...

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