Sincerity

Sincerity is the virtue of one who speaks and acts truly about his or her own feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and desires.

In Western societies

Sincerity has not been consistently regarded as a virtue in Western culture. First discussed by Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics, it resurfaced to become an ideal (virtue) in Europe and North America in the 17th century; and it gained considerable momentum during the Romantic movement, when sincerity was first celebrated as an artistic and social ideal. Indeed, in middle to late nineteenth century America, sincerity was an idea reflected in mannerisms, hairstyles, women's dress, and the literature of the time.

More recently sincerity has been under assault by several modern developments such as psychoanalysis and postmodern developments such as deconstruction. Some scholars view sincerity as a construct rather than a moral virtue—although any virtue can be construed as a 'mere construct' rather than an actual phenomenon.

Literary critic Lionel Trilling dealt with the subject of sincerity, its roots, its evolution, its moral quotient, and its relationship to authenticity in a series of lectures published under the title Sincerity and Authenticity.

Aristotle's views

According to Aristotle "truthfulness or sincerity is a desirable mean state between the deficiency of irony or self-deprecation and the excess of boastfulness."^[1][2]

In Confucian societies

See The Analects

Beyond the Western culture, sincerity is notably developed as a virtue in Confucian societies (China, Korea, and Japan). The concept of chéng (誠、诚) as expounded in two of the Confucian classics, the Da Xue and the Zhong Yong is generally translated as sincerity. As in the West, the term implies a congruence of avowal and inner feeling, but inner feeling is in turn ideally responsive to ritual propriety and social hierarchy. Specifically, Confucian's Analects contains the following statement in Chapter I: (主忠信。毋友不如己者。過，則勿憚改。) "Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Then no friends would not be like yourself (all friends would be as loyal as yourself). If you make a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it."

Thus, even today, a powerful leader will praise leaders of other realms as "sincere" to the extent that they know their place in the sense of fulfilling a role in the drama of life. In Japanese the character for cheng may be pronounced makoto, and carries still more strongly the sense of loyal avowal and belief.

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary and most scholars state that sincerity from sincere is derived from the Latin sincerus meaning clean, pure, sound (1525–35). Sincerus may have once meant "one growth" (not mixed), from sin- (one) and crescere (to grow).^[3] Crescere is cognate with "Ceres," the goddess of grain, as in "cereal."^[4]

According to the American Heritage Dictionary,^[5] the Latin word sincerus is derived from the Indo-European root *sm̥kēros, itself derived from the zero-grade of *sem (one) and the suffixed, lengthened e-grade of *ker (grow), generating the underlying meaning of one growth, hence pure, clean.

Controversy

An often repeated folk etymology proposes that sincere is derived from the Latin sine = without, cera = wax. According to one popular explanation, dishonest sculptors in Rome or Greece would cover flaws in their work with wax to deceive the viewer; therefore, a sculpture "without wax" would mean honesty in its perfection. In its early days the word could refer to the immaterial and material. "One spoke of sincere wine...simply to mean that it had not been adulterated, or, as was once said, sophisticated."^[6] Another explanation is that this etymology "is derived from a Greeks-bearing-gifts story of deceit and betrayal. For the feat of victory, the Romans demanded the handing over of obligatory tributes. Following bad advice, the Greeks resorted to some faux-marble statues made of wax, which they offered as tribute. These promptly melted in the warm Greek sun."^[7] The Oxford English Dictionary states, however, that "there is no probability in the old explanation from sine cera 'without wax'".

The popularity of the without wax etymology is reflected in its use as a minor subplot in Dan Brown's 1998 thriller novel Digital Fortress, though Brown attributes it to the Spanish language, not Latin. Reference to the same etymology, this time attributed to Latin, later appears in his 2009 novel, The Lost Symbol.

Quotations

Best be yourself, imperial, plain and true! Browning, Robert (1812 - 1889) British poet. Bishop Blougram's Apology, 1855

What comes from the heart, goes to the heart. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772 - 1834) British poet. Table Talk, 1833

Some of the worst men in the world are sincere and the more sincere they are the worse they are. Hailsham, Lord (1907) British Conservative politician. The Observer, `Sayings of the Week', 7 Jan 1968, 1968

I'm afraid of losing my obscurity. Genuineness only thrives in the dark. Like celery. Huxley, Aldous (1894 - 1964) British novelist. Those Barren Leaves, Pt. I, Ch. 1, 1925

What's a man's first duty? The answer's brief: To be himself. Ibsen, Henrik (1828 - 1906) Norwegian dramatist. Peer Gynt, IV:1, 1867

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. Wilde, Oscar (1854 - 1900) Irish-born British dramatist. The Critic as Artist, Pt. 2, 1891^[8]

See also

• A 1912 novel by Warwick Deeping is also called Sincerity.
• Honesty
• Insincere charm
• Parrhesia
• Sincerely (disambiguation)
• New Sincerity

References

1. Sparknotes.com, Ethics, Section 4. Last visited, April 25, 2008.
2. Google Books Nicomachean Ethics, Book 4, p. 103, 1127b3-31 by Aristotle
3. Etymonline.com
4. Bob Edwards. Origin of the word cereal. National Public Radio (NPR). Show: Morning Edition (11:00 AM on ET) October 21, 1999.
5. Bartleby.com
6. Trilling, Lionel (1972). Sincerity and Authenticity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 12–13.
7. Ruth Wajnryb. "If you hear buzzing, get the wax out of your ears"; Words. Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). Spectrum; Books; Pg. 32. November 18, 2006.
8. "Sincerity." Bloomsbury Thematic Dictionary of Quotations. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1997. Credo Reference. Web. 01 October 2012.

External links

• Skeat, Walter William (June 17, 2005). An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Dover Publications. p. 555