Everything about Hypocritical totally explained
» For the death metal band, see Hypocrisy (band).
Hypocrisy (or the state of being a
hypocrite) is the act of preaching a certain belief or way of life, but not, in fact, holding these same virtues oneself. (Example: A teacher telling students they shouldn't
plagiarize, while secretly being a plagiarist himself.)
Hypocrisy is frequently invoked as an accusation in
debates, in
politics, and in life in general.
For linguist and social analyst
Noam Chomsky, hypocrisy, defined as the refusal to "...apply to ourselves the same standards we apply to others" is one of the central evils of our society--promoting injustices such as war and social inequalities in a framework of self-deception, which includes the notion that hypocrisy itself is a necessary or beneficial part of human behavior and society.
In other languages, including
French, a hypocrite is one who hides his intentions and true personality. This definition is different from that of the English language.
Etymology
The word
hypocrisy derives from the
Greek ὑπόκρισις (hypokrisis), which means "play-acting", "acting out", "feigning, dissembling" or "an answer". The word
hypocrite is from the Greek word ὑποκρίτης (hypokrites), the
agentive noun associated with υποκρίνομαι (hypokrinomai), for example "I play a part." Both derive from the verb κρίνω, "judge" (»κρίση, "judgment" »κριτική (kritiki), "critics") presumably because the performance of a dramatic text by an actor was to involve a degree of interpretation, or assessment, of that text.
The word can be further understood as an amalgam of the Greek prefix hypo-, meaning "under", and the verb "krinein", meaning "to sift or decide". Thus the original meaning is given as a deficiency in the ability to sift or decide. This deficiency, as it pertains to one's own beliefs and feelings, does well to inform the word's contemporary meaning.
Whereas
hypokrisis applied to any sort of public performance (including the art of rhetoric),
hypokrites was a technical term for a stage actor and wasn't considered an appropriate role for a public figure. In Athens in the 4th Century BC, for example, the great orator
Demosthenes ridiculed his rival
Aeschines, who had been a successful actor before taking up politics, as a
hypokrites whose skill at impersonating characters on stage made him an untrustworthy politician. This negative view of the
hypokrites, perhaps combined with the Roman disdain for actors, later shaded into the originally neutral
hypokrisis. It is this later sense of
hypokrisis as "play-acting," for example the assumption of a counterfeit persona, that gives the modern word
hypocrisy its negative connotation. In all this, we don't find the modern idea that the hypocrite is unaware that his performance or argument stands in contradiction with his self: on the contrary, a
hypocrite in antiquity was someone who intentionally tried to deceive others.
Hypocrisy and morality
Hypocrisy has been described, alongside lack of
sincerity, as a characteristic which attracts particular opprobrium in the modern age. Many belief systems condemn behaviours related to hypocrisy. In some translations of the
Book of Job, the
Hebrew word
chaneph is rendered as "hypocrite," though it usually means "godless" or "profane." In the
Christian Bible,
Jesus condemns the scribes and
Pharisees as hypocrites in the passage known as the
Woes of the Pharisees. In the
Buddhist text
Dhammapada,
Gautama Buddha condemns a man who takes the appearance of an
ascetic but is full of passions within. In
Islam, the
Qur'an rails against the
munafiq - those who claim to be believers and peacemakers but are not.
Psychology of hypocrisy
In
psychology, hypocritical behavior is closely related to the
fundamental attribution error: individuals are more likely to explain their own actions by their environment, yet they attribute the actions of others to 'innate characteristics', thus leading towards judging others while justifying ones' own actions.
Also, some people genuinely fail to recognize that they've character faults which they condemn in others. This is called
psychological projection. This is
self-deception rather than deliberate deception of other people. In other words, "psychological hypocrisy" is usually interpreted by psychological theorists to be an unconscious defense mechanism rather than a conscious act of deception, as in the more classic connotation of hypocrisy. People understand
vices which they're struggling to overcome or have overcome in the past. Efforts to get other people to overcome such vices may be sincere. There may be an element of hypocrisy as well if the actors don't readily admit to themselves or to others how far they're or have been subject to these vices.
Theoretical issues
Multiple theories of hypocrisy have been proposed. The conflict caused by
contradiction can lead to differing outcomes.
In
organizational studies, theorists like Nils Brunsson have discussed the
paradox of the morality of hypocrisy. Brunsson reasons that, despite conventional social reactions to it, hypocrisy may be an essential guard against
fanaticism, and may be to the benefit of high values and moral behaviour.
A few business theorists have studied the utility of hypocrisy, and some have suggested that the conflicts manifested as hypocrisy are a necessary or beneficial part of human behavior and society.
Further Information
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