ABSTRACT
Both society in general and the vast majority of university students expect university authorities to see that the academic system is honest and that the rules of fair competition are adhered to. These expectations justified the university’s dramatic attempts to clamp down on plagiarizing, cheating on examinations and other forms of academic dishonesty. Utilitarian considerations also suggest that the problem of academic honesty has deeper roots, because all these pressures are really side-effects of the students’ involvement in an educational system which is organized around competition. Plagiarism often has its source in personality dysfunctions. Chronic plagiarizers often lack a secure sense of personal identity and are afflicted with low self-esteem. They feel horrible and stupid about what they do, but are compulsively drawn to this form of self-defeating conduct. The good scholar possesses academic honesty as the good soldier possesses courage.
