Is Lying Ethical?

Date

November 5, 2021

source

Lying is generally perceived as unethical behaviour. Depending on the moral theory used, lying in special circumstances (for example, “white” lies or lies that benefit others or avert harm) might be morally justifiable. Other lies, as lying about one’s age . . .

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What is lying?

A definition of lying:

Lying means telling another person something the we believe to be false, with the intention of making the other person believe that this statement is true.

According to this definition:

There must be another person to which one is telling the lie;
The speaker must believe that they are saying something that is not true;
There must be an intention to deceive the other person.

These are important considerations, because, for example, if the speaker says something that is not true, but they do believe it to be true, then they are not telling a lie. Your friend who thinks that he has been visited by aliens in his sleep last week is not lying to you, if he really believes that the aliens came for him.

A little more tricky is the last requirement: The liar must have the intention of making the other person believe that the statement is true.

Is a movie about James Bond a lie? Although it depicts events that never happened and the people who made it also knew very well that 007 is fictional, we would not say that the filmmakers are lying to us. This is because we all know that this is a fictional story. The filmmakers do not try to sell it as a documentary of real events. They intend to entertain the audience, not to deceive them into believing that James Bond exists.

On the other hand, a “documentary” about aliens that tries to convince the viewer of their existence by faking photographs and dressing up children in aluminium foil does constitute a deception. The aim of the filmmakers in this case is to deceive the viewer.

Lying means telling another person something the we believe to be false, with the intention of making the other person believe that this statement is true.

Lying and deception

Deception is a wider concept than lying.

To deceive means to cause someone to believe something that the deceiver believes to be false.

Deception, as opposed to lying, is not restricted to statements. I can deceive someone by planting fake evidence, for example. Or I can deceive by doing nothing. A real estate agent who knows that the government is planning to build a highway close to a house and does not tell the buyer about it, is deceiving the buyer without actually doing anything.

To deceive means to cause someone to believe something that the deceiver believes to be false.