Definition Essay: The Different Types Of Lying

We have always been taught that lying often associates with an act of deception and thus, anyone who lies are referred as morally corrupted. With reference to Jerald Jellison, human lie as many as 200 times per day. How could this be possible - you might ask. Recalling that beloved primary school teacher – is she an untrustworthy person for sure? What about my best buddy? Could he ever be a bad person? And yeah I know my children are tiny wicked devils, but does my spouse really lie to me that much each day? If the statistics do not mislead, wouldn’t this make us all deceiving and iniquitous creatures? The answer is yes, you might say that and no, not entirely. Yes because in today’s world, the moral values have been degraded since people do

Looking back at the definition, does it mean that a lie can be considered as deceiving and despicable only if it is intentionally used to prevaricate others? Most likely, yes, depending on how people define “falsehood” and “intention”. So in which case is lying acceptable? The answer is as long as a statement does not fall into any of the two categories above, it should not be considered as a harmful lie. These types of lies come in a variety of names: bluffing, butler lie, deflecting, exaggeration, etc since they carry distinct connotations. They occur plentiful in our daily life and since we utilize them unconsciously, they contribute chiefly to the 200 average lies told per day. We use them frequently because we believe that these lies cause little or no harm to other people. These lies serve miscellaneous purposes: to please, to avoid hurting feeling; to shun complications, to prevent greater consequences,… An prime example of this can be as simple as: “Hey, how are you doing?” and followed by a response accordingly “I’m good. Thank you”. Even if a person just went through a really crappy day, he is likely to response similarly in order to avoid further explanations. Or when your wife asks “Do I look fat in this dress?” then the answer is always “No”, since we do not want to hurt to feelings of our beloved ones with the truth. Or when your child asks “Mommy where do I come from?”, we would say “An egret brought you here”

What about the more serious ones such as the mother lying to the police officer to cover up her son’s crime; or the doctor lying to the patient about his incurable disease; or the parents lying about the fact that their child is adopted? All of these lies fit into the category of “deceiving and intentional”, and no doubt there will be a lot of consequences involved once the truth is figured out. How do you explain this?” – some people might argue. Such cases are the reason why this matter remains as a “moral dilemma” since there is no absolute solution. Let’s trace back to the reasons why we lie first. What kind of power has the ability to prompt them into lying? Why do they decide choose the path that is considered morally wrong even though they are fully aware of the consequences? According to Jeff Fenske, we lie because of two reasons: we fear and we care. “What does that even have anything to do with this?” – you might be wondering. It does relatively, for somehow these two reasons have the ability to prompt people to go against their righteousness and commit the wrongdoing. Let’s take the story of Granny lying to Colonel Dick as an example. When the Yankees search the house to look for the boys, Colonel Dick interrogates Granny multiple questions in order to find out about the truth she is covering up. His presumptions that she has a grandchild and a nigger playfellow and they are hiding about her somewhere