“Integrity” is one of those terms that has multiple meanings and applications. The concept comes from the Latin word, integritatem, which means soundness, wholeness, or completeness. These traits can be found in both buildings and people.
The integrity of buildings
The integrity of a building depends on many factors. A building’s design with its load-bearing walls, materials, joists, and foundations, and the materials used in them, all play a part. Different materials such as concrete, steel, wood, and glass have different tolerances. In architecture and building, tolerance is the allowable deviation from specified plans, dimensions, alignment, and load; glass, for example, can withstand only so much pressure before it cracks, steel will start to buckle under too heavy a weight, and concrete can withstand only so much water.
The tolerances of the different materials as they relate to each other through the design and the environment determine the safety and security of the building. Staying within the allowable tolerances for these materials makes a building sound, which is integrity.
The integrity of a building neither implies nor relies upon unity. Nor does it imply that integrity is pure, unmixed, or unadulterated. Seamlessness has little to do with integrity. No one element determines it; a solid foundation doesn’t make a house sound if the joists in the attic are rotting and the roof is going to collapse.
Integrity is dynamic and relational. Some designs intentionally include features to compensate for changes in the tolerance of any one element or the overall tolerance of the building.
The integrity of people
The integrity of a person is similarly a matter of design, action, mixed elements, and tolerances.
We humans are a mixture of many different elements. We are embodied creatures with needs, desires, and appetites. We also have cognitive capacities, imaginations, commitments, values, and relations to others. Each of these has a tolerance, and a person of integrity recognizes them. Each of us represents a constantly shifting balance of these elements. All thoughts can be driven from a person’s mind when they experience a leg cramp. A calm demeanor may enable someone to appreciate something in others that they may otherwise miss.
Integrity attaches not only to particular actions but to the character of the person acting. One becomes a person of integrity by acting in ways that embody integrity. As Aristotle (384-322 BCE) notes, we become who we are by what we do habitually. The “who we are" is our moral character. Our moral character becomes firm and stable but not rigid; it directs our actions. As Aristotle notes, virtuous acts can only be done by people of virtuous character.
Since we humans are a mixture of different elements, our virtues will be as well. Some virtues such as temperance or moderation relate to our bodies and their needs and appetites. Other virtues such as compassion attach to our relations to others. The virtue of perspicacity attaches to our reason; it is the ability to have keen insights into complex or difficult situations.
One does not become a person of integrity accidentally; one needs a design paired with deliberate action that is responsive to environment. We have to construct our character. As Montaigne (1533-1592) notes, "To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately."
Integrity allows us to live appropriately, which means that we are able to adjust to changes in our own selves and changes in our lives. The design of our lives needs to consider that much is beyond our control. We need to endure what we cannot avoid and accept that times in our lives will be sweet, bitter, and bittersweet.
A person of integrity lives within the tolerances of her different elements. Many times, those elements will be harmonious. At other times they will be benignly inconsistent. We are all full of inconsistencies, but that doesn’t affect our integrity. We can have integrity but not be seamless and totally smooth.
When inconsistencies become too significant, they can begin to exceed our tolerances. These inconsistencies can cause cracks and fissures that, over time, challenge a person’s integrity. To avoid this, a person needs to know herself in a profound way.
Self-knowledge is crucial to becoming and remaining a person of integrity. A person who knows her inconsistencies or weaknesses can, like the architect, build in some additional protective features to remain within her tolerances.
Integrity in people and in buildings is an ongoing achievement that requires regular inspection and maintenance. Conditions around both humans and buildings change regularly, which means integrity ought not to be taken for granted. Doing so risks exceeding tolerance.
References
Aristotle. (1999). Nicomachean Ethics, trans, Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing Company. Indianapolis, IN.
Montaigne. (1993) Essays, trans, M.A. Screech. Penguin Classics. New York, NY.