But to say that trustworthiness in word is close to being moral is to say that the two are not identical. There are bound to be cases where an inflexible adherence to the principle of trustworthiness in word will lead to action that is not moral. Confucius describes ‘a man who insists on keeping his word and seeing his actions through to the end’ as showing ‘a stubborn petty-mindedness’ (XIII.20).
