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Define lies and mention the types of lies
Types of lies
Ericsson the ways we lie
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Although most lies are categorized as selfish, I hold that there are some lies that are told with good intentions. While such lies still involve some degree of deception, they do not seek to cause harm to others or to promote oneself as a selfish lie would. Ericsson terms this type of lie as a “white lie”, and goes on to say, “The white lie assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple, harmless untruth” (425). In other words, people sometimes fudge the truth out of concern for the well being and feelings of others. I say that this is not a bad or selfish lie because one is trying to spare hurt. Ericsson, however, takes the firm stance that these white lies are manipulative and adds, “But, in effect, it is the liar deciding what …show more content…
Even from my own experience, I know such a feat is easier said than done. Naturally, we strive to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or be put in a position that can cause harm or have a negative effect on us or others. We tend to feel that saying a white lie will be better than telling the truth. For example, if burglars ask where you keep your valuables or cash in the house, instinctively, you do not want to tell them. However, while a lie may be helpful to the liar at that specific moment, I believe that in the long run, depending on the circumstances, it can actually be more harmful because the liar will realize that if he or she got away with one lie, he or she can get away with even more. The liar will then become accustom to lying, so that lying will no longer be viewed as morally wrong, but rather, a practice that can be justified because everyone does it. As a result, I feel the distinction between the truth and a lie will become indifferent. In other words, if people consistently lie, other people will not know what to believe anymore. This will ultimately result in irreparable damage to relationships and feelings as people will not know where reality begins or ends, and words will no longer mean much. In order to prevent a skeptic society, we must realize that every lie has a consequence, and take the first steps to limit
22). People mindlessly respond to avoid their true emotions. Truthfully, I was not fine, but exploding inside with nervousness. However, I didn’t attempt to burden anyone with my lack of confidence, so I told this untruth. Even though white lies may be harmless, they can lead to other deceptive lies labeled by the authors as gray, red, blue and colorless lies. Why do we tell lies? Interestingly, according to the (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013), “evolutionary biologists have proposed that Homo sapiens is indeed hard-wired to tell lies,” (page 25). Furthermore, we want to appear favorable to our friends and family and this may pressure us to justify our lies. According to (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013) it is referred to as “impression management,” by social psychologists (p.27). Thus, lies allow others to see us as we want to be seen, such as I wanted the group to see me as a confident person who could handle obstacles and superbly interact with
Actions are either classified as right or wrong with no allowance for a gray area. Furthermore, the strict guidelines tend to conflict with commonly accepted actions. For example, lying is always considered morally wrong--even a “white lie.” Therefore, one must not lie even if it does more good. In our society although individuals accept lying as being morally wrong, “white lies” have become an exception.
When confronted with a problem, why does the human brain default to lying? Dishonesty is never a solution, although it may seem like the best option in the spur of a moment. My grandma always gave the example of her youth: she avoided and deceived her friend’s sister because the little girl riled everyone. Come to find out, the sister passed the following month due to an illness. I could never imagine the guilt she experienced. Nevertheless, everyone has been deceitful before and many characters were in the tragedy, The Crucible, by playwright Arthur Miller. Reasons for lying are understandable, but most people will admit that mendacity has only caused pain. Lying’s outcome is never positive: it may seem like a good option, for falsehood can save a person’s life, benefit someone, and it eases stress, but these are all transitory.
In “The Truth about Lying” Judith Viorst explains the four different kinds of lying. She categorizes lies as social lies, peace-keeping lies, protective lies, and trust-keeping lies. Social lies are lies that are “acceptable and necessary”, they are the little white lies most people use all the time. Peace keeping lies are told when the liar is trying to protect themselves from getting in trouble or causing any conflict. The protective lies are far more serious, are often told because of fear that the truth would be “too damaging” for the person being lied to. Lastly, there are the trust keeping lies, which are lies in which the liar is lying for a friend in order to keep a promise. Viorst finds that most of these lies, while some are more acceptable than others, are necessary and she can understand them.
At the same time, however, even though people have the tendency to be dishonest, not all lies are legally prosecutable. When asked to judge another person’s appearance, for example, some tend to lie in favor of that person, just to make the person feel better. When trying to avoid doing chores, some tend to lie about being too occupied with homework. Those are what I considered to be lies in the names of politeness and laziness; lies that cause no harm to others.
White lies are usually used to prevent the hurting of someone’s feelings. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Christopher’s father uses white lies to deceive Christopher without establishing more questions about Christopher’s mother's flee. In everyday life, people lie extremely often, causing it to be difficult to tell when someone is actually lying. According to Pamela Meyer, “Lying's complex. It's woven into the fabric of our daily and our business lives. We're deeply ambivalent about the truth...We're against lying, but we're covertly for it in ways that our society has sanctioned for centuries and centuries and centuries. It's as old as breathing. It's part of our culture, it's part of our history.”(Meyer 4:59) In fact, the reason behind Christopher believing his father’s lies is because they are familiar in a way. Ed lies to Christopher, because of habit more than to protect anyone. Although, Christopher’s father used mostly white lies to protect Christopher from the harsh truth, he does it because of the emotion that goes along with them. Even though Christopher has a difficult time showing emotion he becomes upset. According to Paul Ekman in Lying and Deception, “Lies are also betrayed by signs of emotions. The simplest case is one in which the liar attempts to convincingly fabricate an emotion that is not felt. Few people are very good at this, although most of the time people get away
After reading chapter three Alternatives to Self-Disclosure I have concluded a benevolent lie is when someone manipulates the truth to benefit the situation, but not with the intentions of harming anyone in the process. This type of lie is better known as the harmless little white lie that is intended to protect those we tell them too. Learning about this topic pointed out how often it happens without notice, for example my little girl just lost her front teeth and asked me if she will look pretty for her school pictures. My reply was “You’re going to be the most beautiful girl in the world!” Don’t get me wrong, she is beautiful to me no matter what, but not to the world. I just want her to have self-confident in her smile. The most common
Lying is an issue that has been debated on for a long time. Some people believe that lying is sometimes ok in certain circumstances. Some people believe lying is always acceptable. In contrast, some believe lying is always bad. Keeping all other’s opinions in mind, I believe that lying is a deficient way of solving problems and is a bad thing. I claim that only certain situations allow the usage of lies and that otherwise, lying is bad. Dishonesty is bad because it makes it harder to serve justice, harms the liar individually, and messes up records. Furthermore, it should only be said to protect someone from grave danger.
When you 're being honest with people, generally they are trying to be honest with you, so it makes the communication process much easier. I abhor the idea of lying to people just for the purpose of reaching your own goals. Even when he or she succeeds I do not think there can be felt a whole lot of satisfaction from the accomplishment based on lies. Maybe I am sounding too idealistic but I strongly believe that our society would be much better if only people became more honest to each other. Primarily, the issue of honesty is concerned with politics and often we can see many crude and brutal crimes made against humanity, which could have been prevented if from the very start people were not deluded by the politicians '
I am going to argue why it is okay to tell as small lie to a friend in order to spare their feelings. I am going to touch on two ethical models, these being, Utilitarianism and Deontology. The individual that is a Utilitarian is Jeremy Bentham and the Deontologist is Immanuel Kant. I will be sharing their ideas and explaining why Jeremy Bentham’s ideas are more defensible than Kant’s ideas. I believe that if you are a good friend, it is important for you to keep the most optimal happiness between your friends and yourself. With Bentham's theory, Utilitarianism, the overall goal is to make the most people happy (Bentham 1). If the storyline of a lie is what makes the most people happy, Benthem says it is okay to lie. For Kant, a person is never
The lie has been an old moral topic so far. We can read in the Bible in Genesis 4:9 one of the first historical lie of humanity. When the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”. He answered, “I don’t know, Am I my brother’s keeper?”. Likewise, we can find out the footprint of lies, and treasons, which is an inseparable part of the critical moment, in the world’s history. Generally, in the eyes of the moral-intellectual ideology, religion, and modern Justice system, a lie is defined as a hideous act, sin, or perjury. However, I think not only the power to create a lie or change the idea of the other with a fake story for your benefit, not bad, but also it’s part of the evaluation process of the human being which makes some person stronger
Ever told a lie that protected yourself but maybe hurt others? You probably told a selfish deception lie. An example of this could be when you call in sick to work when you actually just are too tired, lazy or have other plans. This forces all of your co workers to work extra hard to make up for you not being present.
Everyday people are faced with situations that they have to weigh their emotions out and decide if what their actions agree with their own internal moral code. Everyone faces challenges where they want to be successful, but at the same time want to be virtuous. To be virtuous means to have a morally good character. (Webster Dictionary) These issues are something that philosophers have been attempting to find the ethically correct answer to for centuries. One ethical dilemma that people are faced with daily is lying. A lie is an intentional false statement. Many people feel the need to lie to make themselves feel better or to get out of something they have done wrong. It is clear that in those situations it is morally wrong to lie, but what
White lies are defined as diplomatic or well-intentioned deception. There are many different types of white lies that are told, such as, lies of flattery for example; if someone gives another person a gift and the gift was not what the person wanted, this person would reply “thank you so much! I just love it!” This type of white lie is told because telling someone that their gift was undesirable would make the teller look like an inconsiderate being.
...narios, and can give the wrong impression. Nevertheless “little white lies” that help you or others feel better do not cause any harm. When you amplify stories, what is the harm and making yourself more exemplary? Embellishing tales only raise your self-esteem up, and does not harm anyone.