Intellectual dishonesty - Definition and Overview

Intellectual dishonesty is an ethical blunder that stems from self-deception or a covert agenda, which is expressed through a misuse of various rhetorical devices. The unwary reader may be deceived as a result.

Intellectual dishonesty takes many forms. The self-deceptions that bolster our sense of self-worth are perhaps wired into human nature and certainly have survival value. Simple plagiarism passes off someone else's words as one's own. The petty crime becomes intellectual dishonesty when the plagiarism is employed to bolster a public perception of one's own intellectual strength or authority.