For instance, a child has assimilated the principle of always telling the truth. But then she is asked to write a fictional story in school—that is, to claim things that never happened in fact. At first, she may be shocked, but then, after some thought, she understands that a story can be a metaphor for a deeper truth. Writing fiction, she discovers, is consistent with the principle of honesty and can even be an expression of a deeper honesty.

To adhere to a rule (e. g., "never tell a lie") blindly and without understanding, after all rational justification for it has disappeared—in other words, to pursue rules without reasons—shows not integrity, but merely a failure to grasp the nature of principles.