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Morality of lies
The morals behind lying
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Lying is only acceptable in specific situations. Lying can be acceptable in a life or death situation to save someone or yourself. According to Barbara Ballinger author of, “Brad Blanton: Honestly, Tell the Truth” from article 3, quotes Blanton as stated, “Yes, but we shouldn’t manipulate the truth except for rare times - if you’re hiding Anne Frank in your attic because her life is in danger” (Ballinger Par. 11). This proves that lying can be acceptable when someone is in danger. However, lying can also be unacceptable, due to the fact that it can hurt relationships. As stated by Blanton, “...I found that lying was persuasive in people’s personal and professional lives. But lying is stressful and hurts relationships” (Ballinger Par. 3). If
Richard Gunderman and Stephanie Ericsson each have written a piece explaining the impacts of lying on society. In Gunderman’s article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” he outlines the health effects of lying, and how there are serious “mental and physical consequences,” (Gunderman 1). Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie,” focuses more on the different types of lying, and how each has a different impact. Although Gunderman’s and Ericsson’s pieces of literature both relate to the negative impacts of lying, their different thoughts of how lying impacts society, including types, health, and solutions, outweigh their similarities.
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
Lying is bad but the fear that can come from it is worse. Fear can rule a person which drives them to extreme and irrational acts that can shape society in a negative way. We as people are so accustomed to how we should act that during times of fear and crisis our vision is blurred and sometimes our decision making abilities are impaired. We often look past at how much fear can affect us and our society. Starting from Salem 1692 and going to the McCarthy era fear ruled the people and even now in present time America we are constantly living in fear.
Of all of the things humans do lying has to be one of the most common. There are many different forms of lying, though the worst, is perhaps, dismissal. Dismissal is used in many situations, but one that comes to mind is abusive relationships. According to Stephanie Ericsson in her essay, “The Ways We Lie”, “ it dismisses feelings, perceptions, or even the raw facts of a situation rank as a kind of lie that can do as much damage to a person as any other kind of lie” (477-28). If it can cause that much damage it must certainly be a very harsh kind of lying.
Lying is an issue that has been debated on for a long time. Some people believe that lying is sometimes ok in certain circumstances. Some people believe lying is always acceptable. In contrast, some believe lying is always bad. Keeping all other’s opinions in mind, I believe that lying is a deficient way of solving problems and is a bad thing. I claim that only certain situations allow the usage of lies and that otherwise, lying is bad. Dishonesty is bad because it makes it harder to serve justice, harms the liar individually, and messes up records. Furthermore, it should only be said to protect someone from grave danger.
Lying doesn’t only hurt the relationship, but it mostly hurts the person who is being lied to, emotionally.
Philosopher Immanuel Kant has a completely different perspective on the moral righteousness of lying. Kant believes it is unethical and sinful to lie no matter what situation presents itself. “Kant finds it especially offensive, contrasting the ‘dim, moles’ eyes fixed on experience’ with the ‘eyes belonging to a being that was made to stand erect and look at the heavens’. Kant believes in the ideology of promise keeping and if you break your promise, it is considered
It is okay to lie to someone, if the intention of the lie is to protect that person.
Although lying may not be necessarily morale, in some cases it is better to lie than to let those that you care about know the truth. However immoral it may have been, Walter White needed to lie to his family in order to prevent them from knowing that he sold and produced crystal meth, something he did to support them after he imminent death due to his complications with lung cancer. Batman and Commissioner Gordon lied to the citizens of Gotham about Harvey Dent's death in order for him to remain being Gotham's symbol of hope after the Joker turns him into a crazed serial killer, which would easily tarnish his reputation and send Gotham into anarchy if the truth got out to the public. Lying is only justified if there are good intentions behind it and if others benefit from it; otherwise, what purpose does lying serve?
The article, “Is Lying Bad for Us,” accurately describes the intentions of a “liar.” The author says, “Though liars do not tell the truth, they care about it, while the bullshitter does not even care about the truth and seeks merely to impress” (Gunderman). This statement proves that lying should not be viewed as out of the ordinary, or unacceptable, and that liars should not be viewed as bad people. Lying can be shown as a way of protecting or caring
What are lies? A lie is defined as follows: To make a statement that one knows to be false, especially with the intent to deceive. There are several ways that lies are told for instance, there are white lies, lies of omission, bold faced lies, and lies of exaggeration. No matter what type of lie that one chooses to tell many people believe that lies do more harm than good.
Webster’s Dictionary defines a lie as an intentionally false statement. However, defining a simple three-letter word is not as easy as it seems on the surface. Upon reading or hearing the word lie, people are instantly associated with a general feeling of negativity. Lying generally creates feelings of dishonesty, untrustworthiness, deceit, and betrayal. However, lying is one of the oldest human social practices. Erin Bryant explains in her essay “Real Lies, White Lies, and Gray Lies” that even though lying has a derogatory label, it is a very common social behavior used by a majority of people on a daily basis. It has been a subject of scrutiny through the millennia by philosophers such as St. Augustine, Aristotle, and Plato. Can lies also be seen as positive? Don’t lies contribute to maintaining the bedrock of most relationships? In his essay “Lies, Lies, Lies,” Paul Gray answers this question. “Most ‘little white lies’ belong here, well-intentioned deceptions designed to grease the gears of society. In this context people want to be fooled. No one expects and few would welcome, searing honesty at a dinner party”.
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
In support of this, I will argue that sometimes lying is better than telling the truth. For example, one might lie due to personal protection, the protection of children’s innocence, the prevention of harm and hurting someone’s feelings, or the delay of pain and suffering. An example of protecting a child’s innocence is the answer of a parent when their child asks them, “Where do babies
Growing up, we are always told to never lie because it is the worst thing you could ever do. “Lying will only lead to a horrible situation with less than mediocre results. While lying is not always good, it is not always bad either. Samuel Butler once said “Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.