ABSTRACT
One argument against the active pursuit of integrity is that integrity is not something of genuine value – not something that it makes any sense to strive for. Integrity is a significant and valuable feature of any worthwhile and ethical life. Bill Taylor says that 'a person acting out of self-respect does not act in order to preserve his integrity, or to keep himself morally pure' and that 'such desires can hardly be a person's primary motive for action'. A preoccupation with maintaining one's integrity may show that something is amiss and may, in certain circumstances, undermine one's integrity. Integrity requires more than facilitation of an instrumental capacity to acquired desired goods; it requires the wisdom and self-knowledge to choose appropriate goods, worthwhile goals and so on. If social educational structures fail to facilitate the life of integrity, other structures are positively hostile to it.
