WARNING: L & A

On Lying

I've just finished reading the first chapter of "Contemporary Moral Issues" editted by James White (this was what got me going on my earlier post). At the end of the chapter there are questions that the reader can try to address. The first was "Is lying always wrong? When is it not wrong and why?" And so I'll drag out an answer here.

It is not sufficient to say that lying is witholding or distorting the truth. Can anyone be REALLY sure that what he knows is true or not? If what you know is false in the first place, distorting it probably isn't that bad. Far better, in my opinion, to say that lying is mainly an intentional betrayal of trust through deception. Because people trust us to say things that we know are true, telling a lie would be betraying this expectation. This is a broad definition; it can include things like breaking a promise. If a certain person promised not to seek re-election and then decided to run anyway, that is also a betrayal of trust, and so this would be a close cousin to lying.

What makes lying so bad is that when you think about it society is an engine running on trust. We trust doctors not to decieve us when talking about drugs and side-effects; we trust drivers to turn left when they signal LEFT; I trusted the authors of the articles I read that what they were feeding me wasn't just fancy harvard bullshit. It just wouldn't work without trust. Anything that undermines trust undermines society and that is bad. Therefore, lying is bad.

But we know for a fact that sometimes lying isn't really bad. If the bad guys asked you where the good guy was hiding and you in fact know where the good guy is, you are not obligated, and actually shouldn't tell the truth. In cases like this, the situation is such that there is no existing relationship of trust or trust has already been compromised. Lying to an enemy spy is not bad because neither side expects the other to tell the truth and so no trust is betrayed. People who have already taken advantage of people's trust (bad guys) cannot hold other people to fulfill their trust in them (the other people). You can therefore choose to tell the truth or lie to bad guys depending on the situation. If there is greater benefit in lying (the good guy will be safe) then lying in this situation is justified.

Summing it up, lying is an intentional betrayal of trust through deception. Lying is bad because betraying trust makes social living impossible. In a situation where there are no relationships based on trust or trust has already been betrayed, lying is not in itself bad.

So, did I answer it well enough? Are there things I missed? Are there exceptions to the rules I scratched out? If so speak up