Integrity means doing the right thing even when no one is around to witness it. A concept too few people understand these days.
Is a “wrong” act okay if nobody ever knows about it?
This would depend upon your definition of "Wrong".
We all have a certain level of subject morality that is a mixture of several of the following:
- Empathy
- Reciprocity
- Cultural Influences (indoctrinated growing up)
- Experiences both good and bad
- Personal world view from reason obtained from Life Experiences
We temper this with our CURRENT societal influences on what is ethically acceptable in a sort of Objective Moral expectation.
Example: While some would consider it wrong to use ANY God concept's "Name in Vain" . . . Those who do not believe in that particular God concept, do not.
There are many things that are not socially acceptable for the majority of some societies, yet are practiced, regardless, in private.
Hi
there! If you are still talking about it, you certainly know that it’s not okay
even if nobody knows about it! The thing is haunting you and you probably
should do whatever you can to fix the situation. It’s always better to avoid
what’s “wrong” as you never know what karma might have in reserve for you!
You will know it's wrong and wrong is not OK.
If it were OK, it wouldn't be wrong. Unless you're a sociopath.
No. Wrong is still wrong.
How you define "wrong" is meaningless in this context.
Why?
Because you have already given us an evaluation of the act you are talking about---and you have already told us that you have judged the act to be "wrong."
Wrong (as an adjective) means not correct or not true.
So how does the knowledge of others affect in any way the value or disvalue nature of a not correct or not true act that you perform.
No. If you want to do the right thing, it shouldn't matter who knows or doesn't know about it.