The Basis of Everything The Fragility of Character in a Truth-Challenged World

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Of the virtues that require cultivation, argues sociologist Joseph E. Davis in “The Basis of Everything: The Fragility of Character in a Truth-Challenged World,” fidelity to truth is not only essential to relationships with others and one’s community but is also “the bedrock of human character.” Yet survey after survey reveals an alarming decline in honesty and truthfulness among all Americans, particular the younger cohorts. The causes are not straightforward; nor do they attest to a complete indifference to moral behavior. As Davis shows, we must look at larger social forces. “Students have not abandoned the value of truthfulness,” he writes, “but honesty, in the absence of common social standards and normative integration, has, for them, lost its intrinsic value. As one value among others, honesty, when measured on the scales of instrumental calculation, weighs in less decisively than those values that improve one’s chances to be a ‘winner.’”