I will now respond to this objection. When faced with the dilemma of lying, the maxim this counter focused on is to always tell the truth, stating that a world with only lies would not function. However, the more important maxim that one should follow while lying depends on the situation, and could be to value life or compassion. Not everyone chooses to have the maxim of honesty because it could sometimes prove more useful for everyone to have other maxims which could produce the greatest good in a given situation. For instance, you are married and are going out to dinner with your wife. She comes out in a dress that is unflattering to her, but she is very excited to be wearing it. If your maxim is to never lie, you would spoil your wife’s happiness and your night out. This shows that telling the truth is not always helpful to those involved. However, a better maxim to follow could be that you always try to make your wife happy, which produces the greatest utility for this situation.
I will now argue that lying is morally permissible on the basis of Plato’s Noble Lie. I will argue...
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.
In his Plato’s Republic Socrates tries to find the values of an ideal city in order to rightly define justice. Although I agree with most of his ideals for the city, there are also many that I disagree with. Some of his ideas that I accept are that women should be able to share the same responsibilities as the men, having women and children in common, , the recognition of honor based on the self rather than heredity, that the best philosophers are useless to the multitudes, and the philosopher / king as a ruler. I disagree with his views on censorship, having assigned positions in society, his views on democracy, and that art cannot be a respectable occupation.
As with all other topics discussed in “The Republic of Plato,” the section in which he discusses the myths of the metals or the “noble lie” is layered with questioning and potential symbolism, possible contradiction, and a significant measure of allusion. In Chapter X of “The Republic,” Plato presents “The Selection of Rulers: The
Plato’s Republic focuses on one particular question: is it better to be just or unjust? Thrasymachus introduces this question in book I by suggesting that justice is established as an advantage to the stronger, who may act unjustly, so that the weak will “act justly” by serving in their interests. Therefore, he claims that justice is “stronger, freer, and more masterly than justice” (Plato, Republic 344c). Plato begins to argue that injustice is never more profitable to a person than justice and Thrasymachus withdraws from the argument, granting Plato’s response. Glaucon, however, is not satisfied and proposes a challenge to Plato to prove that justice is intrinsically valuable and that living a just life is always superior. This paper will explain Glaucon’s challenge to Plato regarding the value of justice, followed by Plato’s response in which he argues that his theory of justice, explained by three parts of the soul, proves the intrinsic value of justice and that a just life is preeminent. Finally, it will be shown that Plato’s response succeeds in answering Glaucon’s challenge.
Why is the justification of lying such a controversial subject? The play, “Hippolytus”, written by Euripides and the Revised English Bible has numerous accounts of lying. Each story teaches us the importance of honesty. They use a suggestive manner to imply that lying harms everyone involved in the lie and there is no positive outcome. Although lying may be the simplest decision to follow through, it is always best to tell the truth because deceit can cause further problems down the road.
In book I of Plato's Republic, when Socrates (speaking for Plato) is discussing what does, "doing the right thing" mean with Cephalus is when the morality of lying is first brought to discussion. Cephalus stated that justice is, speaking the truth and paying debts. Socrates argues and states that," Everyone would surely agree that if a sane man lends weapons to a friend and then asks for them back when he is out of his mind, the friend shouldn’t return them, and wouldn’t be acting justly if he did. Nor should anyone be willing to tell the whole truth to someone who is out of his mind." Socrates thinks that when you are friends with someone than it is just to tell a verbal lie to protect them, which is what a good friend would do. Plato approved of lying when telling the truth is the wrong thing to do. Plato thinks that it is never right or just to do evil or harm to anyone, and if you have to lie to protect someone then it is a just thi...
Plato. "Apology." The Longman Anthology of World Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and David L. Pike. Compact ed. New York: Pearson, 2008. 559-75. Print.
In Plato’s Republic he tells us how humans should live in to create harmony. This type of life is one in which we live a life of reason and righteousness. There are chose guardians to protect us however there are special qualities for these guardians in that they should be honest and fair. He notes that future generations should see the good ways so that in years to come when they become guardians they will follow in the previous steps. Socrates also notes the importance of truth so that its citizens won’t do wrong. That being said he also says that “falsehood really is of no use to the gods,” it is a “form of medicine” to men. In this idea lies are okay only if they benefit and protect the public. It is these types of lies that the benefits outweigh the consequence. These are essential to protecting the people and keeping them safe from enemies and so on. Plato also notes that public cannot reciprocate the same action as giving the “medicine” of lies, as they are not the “doctors”—the “doctors” will
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.
Plato, Phaedrus, trans. R. Hackforth, in Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, eds. The Collected Dialogues of Plato (New York: Pantheon, 1966).
We lie a lot, says behavioral economist Dan Ariely. The central thesis of Dan Ariely’s The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty is that human behavior is driven by two conflicting motivations, and that most human values are not compatible all of the time. On one hand,
According to Ericsson “we all lie”. We have the ability to tell the truth, but we chose not to for the sake of our own benefits. Even if we do tell the truth, we have a lot to lose in the process. In order to tell the truth in an everyday basis, you have to watch your every move, never making a mistake in the interest of saving yourself or others. You have to restructure the truth, which then assumes the form of a lie. Three ways of telling a lie corresponding to Ericsson are out and out lies, dismissal, and white lies.
Growing up, we are always told to never lie because it is the worst thing you could ever do. “Lying will only lead to a horrible situation with less than mediocre results. While lying is not always good, it is not always bad either. Samuel Butler once said “Lying has a kind of respect and reverence with it. We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.
For Plato’s thesis – justice pays – to be validated, he has to prove two things, the first being that justice is inherently good. In
Telling the truth teaches one person self- respect for themselves and others as well. Telling the truth also sets a good example for others to do the same thing and make a “chain reaction”. People can make a “chain reaction” by passing on what they have done from one person to another, and before you know it, everyone is changing greatly, and the world is progressing tremendously. Lies are told all around the world, and they are told every day. One lie can often lead to another lie and cause you to be caught up in one big lie that will be hard to get out of if people do not tell the truth. If a person thinks that is okay to lie, they better think again, the truth always comes out no matter how hard a person tries to keep it in, or how much someone thinks that they can get away with lying. No person can keep in or hold a grudge with what they have done. After all, telling the truth is the right thing to do, and everyone should do it. Telling the truth is always much easier than the trouble of a