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Traditionally, it is agreed that any and every form of telling the truth is always the best thing to do. In the essays of Stephen L Carter and Stephanie Ericsson, this ideal is not exactly true. It is expressed in "The Insufficiency of Honesty" as well as "The Ways We Lie" that honesty is hard to come by and that there is more to it than believed. The authors convey their views by first defining what the concept is, picking it apart, and then use common occurrences for examples of the points they had made. In Stephen L Carter's "The Insufficiency of Honesty", he attempts to dissect exactly what it means to be honest and to have integrity in the worlds view. We soon realize as a reader that it takes a greater deal of effort to participate in
A Critique of “The Truth about Lying: Has Lying Gotten a Bad Rap” by Allison Kornet
In society, some people are looked at as liars or “bullshitters,” as stated in the article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” Honesty is not always the best policy, and in certain situations, liars are best not to tell the truth when protecting the innocent, or protecting oneself. Because of this, lying should be looked at as a standard in society and something that people recognize in every day life.
Plato once said: “Honesty is for the most part less profitable than dishonesty.” People are taught from a very young age never to lie or keep secrets. It would be easy for anyone to stand behind the argument: “Honesty is the best policy,” but in times of personal anguish, that decree is quickly disdained. What this argument fails to consider is that keeping a secret or lying is the justifiable in times of crisis.
Ericsson argued that “telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible” (159). Lies are part of everyday life, like drinking coffee for breakfast. For Barkley, lies became a stifling part of his life. The two authors explained how lies can impact a society.
William Damon, a professor of education at Stanford University, analyzes the value of honesty and the ways in which people in our current society may be falling short of or disrespecting the moral and ethical responsibility of honesty. His article “The Death of Honesty”, written in a formal style and neutral tone, uses the appeals of logos and ethos to convince the reader of this societal dysfunction. He first considers the fact that honesty has some exceptions in which it is acceptable to lie. Secondly, he discusses the importance of candor in human relationships, and that dishonesty is socially impairing our current society. Lastly, he analyzes educational settings which seem to be in recent years neglecting to teach and reinforce morals
In the essay “The Rules about the Rules,” Carter sets forth his views on integrity. Throughout this essay, he explains to readers the three rules of integrity. The first step is the difficult process of discerning one’s deepest understanding of right and wrong. The second step is knowing what one believes. This means one knows and understands what is right from wrong and puts what is right into effect. Last but not least, the third and most important step is the person must be willing to say that he or she is acting upon what he or she has decided what is right. Carter believes integrity is a moral virtue that should be consistently acted upon throughout readers’ lives.
This essay by Sam Harris opened my eyes to new ideals about honesty and deception. I think it was a very well done piece and the author without a doubt was very deliberate in the rhetorical tools he chose to convince readers of his opinion about this controversial topic. Harris uses a particular sense of pathos to convince readers that what he is saying is right. For example, he gives the example that 10 percent of communication between spouses is deceptive (paragraph 24), and again when he asks, “What attitude could be more disrespectful of those we care about?” (paragraph 60). He purposely and subtly implements these claims which deliberately pull at the reader’s heart strings, making them more susceptible to his ideals.
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
In “The Ways We Lie”, Ericsson describes the different types of lies: white lie, facades, ignoring
This paper examines Hung-Yi Lu’s (2008) research, Sensation-Seeking, Internet Dependency, and Online Interpersonal Deception. This study was looking to see if there was a relationship between sensation-seeking (high scores and low scores) and interpersonal deception. And was also looking to see if there was a relationship with internet dependence (high scores and low scores) and interpersonal. The population under investigation are a sample of Taiwanese college students. In this particular study they could not recruit all Taiwanese college students. They recruited the students by choosing eight colleges randomly. They choose randomly from North, South, East and Central Taiwan. The size of the of the sample was seven hundred and seven. However,
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Honesty is the best policy.” I disagree with him, because it is tolerable when used to prevent hurting someone's feelings. Although, lying all the time is unacceptable, a few little lies once in awhile is all right. Study shows that two out of three people lie in a ten minute conversation. That is about 60% of the people around the world! In spite of everything, if people never lie everyone's feelings would be hurt. For instance when we compliment someone, even if it is a lie it make them feel better about themselves. Never lying is not exceptional, although lying all the time is awful.
As you can see, the definition of honesty and integrity go hand in hand. Just as Spencer Johnson tells us, “Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” Without honesty, there is absolutely no integrity. In the past few years, many major corporations conducted tests to determine how much of the world’s population was considered, “honest.”
Honesty is a characteristic that everyone should possess. However, being honest is a difficult task for many people. Living honestly means allowing a person’s true self to be exposed to others. Honesty is considered owning up to one’s wrongdoings and not lying, cheating, or stealing. Being honest is a trait that many people believe is obsolete. Even though every person interprets honesty differently, it all stems back to telling the truth. Being honest allows a person to earn respect from their peers. Honesty is allowing oneself to be completely exposed by being truthful.
I do not know of anyone who wants to be known as Pinocchio, the wooden boy who lies and in a result, makes his nose grow bigger. As an old proverb says, honesty is the best policy. I agree with being honest at all times. First, telling the truth to me, is always the right thing. When I catch someone in a lie, I just think to myself, what has come up of this world? A person’s truths and lies prove who that person is, and what that person is capable of. Second, people can earn a great deal of respect and trust from telling the truth. Now, people trust their “gut feeling”, but someone’s “gut feeling” should always be truthful. Respect is something that is earned, and at sometimes, given to people who do the things that they are supposed to do for themselves and for others. Last, most people were taught to tell the truth at a very young age. A truth is