Assignment 3 - Essay - Lying with Integrity

Being Bad
Essay on ‘Lying with Integrity’
Essay Question: Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the truth?

What is a lie? Here are some quotes from Wikipedia on the tern ‘lie’ and ‘truth’. “A lie is a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement with the intention to deceive…”
“To lie is to state something one believes is false with the intention that it be taken for the truth by someone else”
“The meaning of the word truth extends from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to agreement with fact or reality in particular.” The quote goes on to state that the word truth has no single definition in which other philosophers agree on.
On the same page on Wikipedia, it goes on to state what type of lies there are.

Telling the truth is a good thing. People will like you more if you tell the truth, it means that you are trustworthy and a nice person. You will also get on better in life if you told the truth because you get a good reputation. But is it always good to tell the truth? People say it’s hard to handle the truth, for example if a love one is dying; it’s hard to accept it. But telling them lies would also make matters worse.


Is lying part of normality? Everyone lies; even telling little ‘white’ lies. These little ‘white’ lies can, for example protects ones feelings. But this is part of normality. People wouldn’t want to hurt their loved ones feelings so little lies are OK. But if you told them the truth, then it can lead to arguments, fights and break ups. Is it really worth telling the truth for? No, so the world wouldn’t be a better place if we all told the truth.
A quote from the website stated in the bibliography – “lying should be avoided except in extreme circumstances. Bok (1978), in a classic treatment, argues that lying should be kept to a minimum because its consequences are so often undesirable.”
What is meant be “extreme circumstance”? Is it that if one has committed a crime they should lie about it? Wouldn’t it be extreme if the crime committed was lied about? In this case the world would be a better place if the truth was told. If the truth was told then crimes would be reduced and the person involved in this crime would be sentenced and justice would be done, instead if the crime was lied about then nothing would have been done and the crime carries on going.

It’s true what Bok (1978) has to say about the consequences of lying is has described ‘undesirable’ because lying can cause hate and in extreme circumstances it can lead to violence.

If the world would be a better place if we all told the truth then why do children tell lies at an early age? Parents, without knowledge of doing so, lie to their children. These may not be big lies, for example, in this quote also stated form the site stated in the bibliography, “You should never say that to your father!" The child would pick up that this is telling their dad a lie and will continue to do more. Is doing this wrong? If a child is brought up to tell the truth and that lying is bad then why do parents do this? Is it because it is better to lie at times? Is it the right thing to do? The world would be a better place if the truth was told in extreme circumstances, for example crimes and cheating, but little lies like ‘don’t tell your sister about that’ is OK, it’s like a secret and there is no harm in anyone in doing this.

So the question is; would the world be a better place if we all told the truth? Well it is a mixture. It all depends on the circumstances of the situation. Telling lies and telling the truth can both be better for the world.


Bibliography

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/03sa.html (Published in Social Anarchism, No. 35, 2003-2004, pp. 27-39.) – Telling lies for a better world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie