Lying
What is a lie?
A lie is a statement, believed by the liar to be false, made to another person with the intention that the person be deceived by the statement.
This definition mirrors the one offered by Sissela Bok in Lying: Moral Choices in Public and Private Life (New York: Pantheon, 1978), pp. 14, 17. Incidentally, Bok's book is a good place to begin exploring the morality of lying.
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As a person I hate most of all cruelty to people and other sentient creatures. However, perhaps because I happen to be a philosopher and terribly aware of its destructive consequences, my second in the order of 'hateful moral crimes' happens to be lying. I did not read Sissela Bok's book in 1978 when it was published, but perhaps such a spouse is what every college president (or other person similarly situated in a position of authority over the welfare of others) needs to keep him/her on an even moral keel? Swedish born Bok was the wife of the then president of Harvard, Derek Bok.
If one Googles the word, lying, one finds a wide range of citations mentioning the names of current American political figures -- Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld among others. One is forced now to doubt virtually all 'explanations' of 'unfortunate' political events -- such as wars started on the basis of 'mistaken' information. Or imprisonment and debasement of this or that alleged terrorist -- or 'potential' ones held in our U.S. gulags? Or the ones accountable for the torture and murder in such prisons over there where our 'alleged' enemies have been incarcerated? Or the practices of this or that corporate management that destructively affect the lives of customers, employees, the public in general? Or the alleged motives and actions ascribed to one's 'enemies'? Or the intended targets of weapons of this or that cluster of civilians massacred by this or that weapon from on high or this or that military engagement against this or that targeted person or entire city? Or the prosecution of this or that alleged criminal? Or the execution of this or that alleged murderer? Or the slander of this or that public servant?
Summarily, wherever one looks these days lying is the name of the game being played out that may well just do us all in? By some such is called the apocalypse. Others alive today may yet discover it to be the end of civilization as we have known it?
Yes, there are some who believe that lying is justified by one's good intentions. I have my doubts.
And so we go merrily rolling along -- merrily, merrily, merrily.
A lie is a statement, believed by the liar to be false, made to another person with the intention that the person be deceived by the statement.
This definition mirrors the one offered by Sissela Bok in Lying: Moral Choices in Public and Private Life (New York: Pantheon, 1978), pp. 14, 17. Incidentally, Bok's book is a good place to begin exploring the morality of lying.
....................................................................
As a person I hate most of all cruelty to people and other sentient creatures. However, perhaps because I happen to be a philosopher and terribly aware of its destructive consequences, my second in the order of 'hateful moral crimes' happens to be lying. I did not read Sissela Bok's book in 1978 when it was published, but perhaps such a spouse is what every college president (or other person similarly situated in a position of authority over the welfare of others) needs to keep him/her on an even moral keel? Swedish born Bok was the wife of the then president of Harvard, Derek Bok.
If one Googles the word, lying, one finds a wide range of citations mentioning the names of current American political figures -- Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld among others. One is forced now to doubt virtually all 'explanations' of 'unfortunate' political events -- such as wars started on the basis of 'mistaken' information. Or imprisonment and debasement of this or that alleged terrorist -- or 'potential' ones held in our U.S. gulags? Or the ones accountable for the torture and murder in such prisons over there where our 'alleged' enemies have been incarcerated? Or the practices of this or that corporate management that destructively affect the lives of customers, employees, the public in general? Or the alleged motives and actions ascribed to one's 'enemies'? Or the intended targets of weapons of this or that cluster of civilians massacred by this or that weapon from on high or this or that military engagement against this or that targeted person or entire city? Or the prosecution of this or that alleged criminal? Or the execution of this or that alleged murderer? Or the slander of this or that public servant?
Summarily, wherever one looks these days lying is the name of the game being played out that may well just do us all in? By some such is called the apocalypse. Others alive today may yet discover it to be the end of civilization as we have known it?
Yes, there are some who believe that lying is justified by one's good intentions. I have my doubts.
And so we go merrily rolling along -- merrily, merrily, merrily.
posted by Ed Kent at 5:49 AM
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