Lying Is Morally Accepted One

¶ … Lying is Morally Accepted

One of the most common ethical values that people teach their children is to tell the truth, but often people do not follow this value. There are many variants of lying, from the little white lie to purposefully hurtful lies meant to hurt someone. Some individuals would argue that lying is never justified nor morally accepted, but others would argue that lying is justified in certain situations. In the following different types of lies will be reviewed, the arguments for why we should and should not lie will be analyzed, and then determine if lying is justified.

The first type of lie is a white lie, a lie that someone tells in order to not offend or hurt another person. These types of lies can grow, but are normally small enough that they do not build. In the medical field some may lie when telling patients how sick they really are, in hopes of not upsetting them further. 1 This type of lie will most likely build on top of the first lie, because if you do not tell a patient the truth and their situation worsens or they ask questions you will have to continue to lie. 2 Lastly, a third type of lie is a lie by omission. That is not necessarily telling something that is untrue, but instead not stating all of the facts which in turn is not telling the truth. Businesspeople often lie by omission when working with competitors because they want to protect their trade secrets. 3

It seems obvious that people should not lie, but it is important to review what the arguments against lying really are. The first reason not to lie is that it causes distrust in our relationships with others. Also, one small lie often leads to additional lies, known as the Domino argument. A third argument to not lie is that it leads to self-destructiveness of the person lying; it hurts them often as much as it hurts others. Moreover people should not lie because in certain situations it gives the liar extra power in a situation which deprives others who are trying to do their best without lying. All of these reasons seem to boil down to the fact that people should not lie because it is harmful and hurtful to themselves as well as others.

On the other hand there are arguments for why people should lie, in other words when lying would be justified. Lying could be justified if it was done in self-defense. This is the same concept as shooting someone in self-defense; if you have to tell a lie in order to exit a situation that is harmful to yourself it is justified. Additionally, lying to protect trade secrets, like discussed above in lying by omission, is justifiable. If businesses shared their trade secrets openly with competitors it would create many issues for the businesses that are trying to stay ahead of others. Lastly, an argument for when lying is justified is when it is done to protect national security. The cases of when lies are justified are much rarer than when they are not justified. In all cases, even when it seems justifiable the consequences should be thoroughly considered. 4 Overall people should favor telling the truth and when they do lie be prepared to face the consequences.