Untangling integrity: a search for a basic framework

Abstract

This thesis aims to provide a framework on which discussions on integrity should be based, which is needed because integrity seems to have become a ‘container concept’: too many things are attributed to the concept. In order to provide some clarity in the debate this thesis describes four different views on integrity that have widely influenced the debate, namely the views as presented by Frankfurt, Williams, Korsgaard, and Calhoun. Besides describing these accounts of integrity this thesis analyses them and seeks overlap in the different theories. The three points where the different theories meet are the components that each discussion on integrity should at all times involve and thus form the framework on which further ideas can be based. The thesis does not contain a new and comprehensive definition of integrity but shows which components should at least be included in the concept of integrity.