The Morality of Lying in Contrast to the Philosophies of Kant

There comes a time when a doctor, minister or politicians and an individual will tell a lie. It could be a white lie or big lie; most people almost generally resort to lying in certain situation. Often times a lawyer will lie in order to protect his client, or vice versa, a client will tell a lie in order to avoid being incarnated. There are many situations an individual will be placed in, and at some point in a person’s life they will need to tell a lie. Is it appropriate to lie? This is what Sissela Bok writes about in Lying: Moral choice in Public and Private Life. Bok acknowledges that despite numerous religious and moral statements against lying, people will still lie in certain situations. She will discuss and

“The Ways We Lie” is an essay written by Stephanie Ericsson, first published in the Utne Reader in 1993. The Utne Reader is an American magazine that publishes pieces from alternative media sources. However, the essay was mostly directed toward people who have told a lie at least once in their life and have may have felt guilty about it. The purpose for the piece was developed using original syntax, logical appeals, and descriptive tropes, the purpose being that one should think twice before telling a lie.

In the essay The Ways We Lie, author Stephanie Ericsson writes in depth about the different types of lies used by most people everyday. While listing examples of them, Ericsson questions her own experiences with lying and whether or not it was appropriate. By using hypothetical situations, true accounts, and personal occurrences, she highlights the moral conflicts and consequences that are a result of harmless fibs or impactful deceptions. In an essay detailing the lies told to ourselves and others, Ericsson points out one bold truth; everyone lies. Through her writing, Ericsson causes the reader to look into how they’ve lied in the past and how to effects others and the general greater good of society.

In the essays “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, and “The World of Doublespeak” by William Lutz, there are two different angles on lying. They both have a different outlook on lying, Ericsson believes that it is just a part of our language, and that these lies are not deliberate. Lutz believes that it is more deliberate, and intentional. Both Ericsson and Lutz use anecdotes and stories as examples of lies, while describing different kinds of lies.

To many people, a lie has little significance. Some people tell lies as a way to cover something up, make a different name for themselves, or just to make excuses. No matter what the situation, my father has constantly reminded me that the truth will set you free, and as I get older even though I am still in my youth, the more I realize the truth and importance of that statement. To me a lie is a form of disloyalty, the less you respect the person the more you lie to them as a way to cover up your true identity. A lie is when you mislead what is really the truth; where you don’t tell the full truth in order to deceive someone, or you avoid being honest at all. There are several different outcomes to

Kant thinks that if you believe that lying is wrong, then you shall not lie at any given time. Unfortunately, I would not inform the murderer of where my friend is. Even if I informed the murderer where my friend was, the police would not get to the house fast enough to save them. Secondly, if I had told my friend to hide because the murderer was on their way to kill them, that would be on my conscience if they actually died. Lastly, who's to say that the murderer wouldn't come back to kill me because I was the last person to see them with my friend.

Looking at this movie from Kant's viewpoint, We can say Campbell is morally wrong, by allowing himself to become a spy, he betray his duty for his country. Honesty if I remember is one of the categorical imperatives which needs to be followed, at situations. By being a spy, Campbell committed a dishonest act to his country to which he has a duty to protect. It must be noted that Campbell was indifferent to the views of the Nazis and the destruction and oppression of lives that was causing. Of course if we look at it in a different light he could have agreed to become a spy since he shared the plight of the subjugation of the Jews, I think Kant would have viewed his situation as to have no moral value. As Ackrill out it "His being a spy is also

Kant explains time-and-again; consequences can never be part of the decision that something is right or wrong. Why? Kant argues that responsibility for being moral is possible only if we know with absolute certainty what is right and what is wrong. Consequences never give us that certainty. So, consequences never have any part in any moral judgment.

In “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”, one of many things that Friedrich Nietzsche argues is that humans do not really hate lying, but they do hate the bad consequences that come with lying. He states, “What they hate is basically not deception itself, but rather the unpleasant, hated consequences” (453). Nietzsche explains that lying is useful and we as humans all make use this tool. We seem to ignore the fact that we are lying when it benefits us, although we do not accept the use of this tool when it has a bad effect on society, or on ourselves.

According to Kantian theory it would be wrong to lie, even to save a life or lives. The Kantian theory strongly affirms absolutes. Morality is based on freewill according the Immanuel Kant, moral worth comes from acting from duty. Good will means acting from duty, acting from reason and that our reason for action could apply to everyone. So it would be difficult for one to lie even for a good reason.

After reading Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie”, I believe that there are several ways a person may tell a lie. According to our text, Webster defines a lie as a false statement or action especially made with the intent to deceive. Some lies can be harmless and others can be very harmful. Any lie told is one of deceitful intentions, whether it was an intentional or unintentional lie. A person could tell a white lie, facade, ignoring the plain facts, stereotypes and clichés, or an out-and-out lie. Regardless, of what type of lie that is told some lies can do more harm than good. I believe that the white lie and the out-and-out lies are the most harmless lies, while, ignoring the plain facts could be very harmful. A white lie is

In Immanuel Kant’s view, there are three things a person must avoid to be considered a moral being. They must avoid lying, avarice, and false humility. Lying involves making false statements in order to deceive others or the person making the lies. Avarice is the extreme greed for wealth or any material gain. False Humility involves thinking poorly of oneself and having low self-esteem.

Kant’s views about finding out if an action is morally good or not are plausible. But then, many objections about his views float in the air. Oftentimes, one of the objections can be heard: It is categorically wrong to lie in any circumstances, regardless of the consequences. It seems not reasonable, however, to hold that lying is categorically wrong in all circumstances. Imagine, for example, a situation in which a serial killer is on the hunt for your daughter. While searching for her, the killer, whom you know to be the killer, encounters you and asks for information regarding your daughter’s whereabouts. According to Kant’s deontological theory, you would be required to tell the truth. And by this, it doesn’t seem to be applied practically.

Daily small talk is built on the foundation of small white lies. Society is always conditioned to answer the everyday “how are you today?” with the “good, and you?” no matter how one actually feels. Viorst’s “The Truth About Lying” discusses a friend who goes against this norm by answering everything in one-hundred percent honestly, but even himself says that always telling the truth “destroys your credibility” (171). Even though he is doing the morally right thing by always telling the truth and giving his full honest opinion, it taints how society views him because he stands out by not conforming to the everyday “how are you”s. Imagine for example, you are getting interviewed for a promotion at your workplace. When your boss asks

The definition of a lie is ‘a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood. Even if many of us don’t like to admit it, we all lie; some more than others, and some lies more severe than others. There can be several factors that lead up to one telling a lie such as having people perceive them in a different way, reducing conflict, or having their views seem less distant to others views. The title of the article is ‘Undergraduates’ Day-to Day Lying Behaviors: Implications, Targets and Psychological Characteristics’. The authors of this article are Su-Lin Chiu, Fu-Yuan Hong, and Shao-I Chiu. The article was published in ‘Social Behavior & Personality: an international journal. 2016 Vol. 44 Issue 8’. The article was published in September of 2016. The topic of this article was to analyze undergraduate students and they’re day-to-day lying behaviors such as occurrence, kinds of lying behavior and gender differences. Also, the researchers analyzed the correlation between undergraduates’ psychological characteristics and their lying behaviors. The social theory that was being studied was that of DePaulo’s which states “the content of 80% or more les is related to the psychological characteristics of the liar”. DePaulo has also declared there are five categories in which lying behavior falls under: cognition, explanation, achievement, fact/property and action/plan/whereabouts.