Nailing the Lie

Dr. Rajesh Bhola

India

Jul 11, 2014

Why do people lie, and why does lying even become a ‘compulsion’ for some? Is there really a need to lie? Is lying unethical and immoral? Some people lie because they do not care about how it affects others. Modern politicians come to mind. Sometimes a lie, a false statement, is made deliberately, for the ‘good’ of the recipient – for example a nurse or doctor not telling the patient the ‘truth’. When trying to do the ‘right’ thing in a difficult situation, honesty seems to come up second best - next to values like compassion, respect and justice. Yet many philosophical and religious traditions have long claimed that rarely, if ever, is a lie permissible. What, then, is the truth about lying?

Lies are morally wrong. Lying corrupts the most important quality of being human: our ability to make free, rational choices. Each lie contradicts our morality and contracts our moral worth. Our lies also rob others of their freedom to choose rationally; our lies lead them to decide or act differently (than what they would have done if we had spoken the truth). A second perspective is based on Virtue Ethics – wherein, being virtuous is being ethical. Rather than judging right or wrong behaviour on the basis of reason and what people should or should not do, Virtue Ethicists focus on the development of character - or what people ‘should be’. Virtues are desirable qualities that predispose people to act in a certain manner. In this context, lying is wrong because it opposes the virtue of honesty. Further, the apparent conflict between different virtues is managed by most ethicists with a concept called the ‘unity of the virtues’. When facing a seeming conflict between virtues, such as a ‘compassionate lie’, Virtue Ethics obliges us to imagine what some ideal individual would do, and then act accordingly - thus making that ideal person’s virtues our own. In essence, Virtue Ethics proclaims that lying is an immoral act when it takes us a step away, not toward, the process of becoming the best person that we can be. Some philosophers however claim that actions, including lying, are morally acceptable when the resulting consequences maximize benefit or minimize harm. A lie, therefore, is not always immoral; in fact, when lying is felt necessary to either maximize benefit or minimize harm (or both), it may be immoral not to lie! The challenge in applying this to everyday decision making, however, is significant: one must correctly estimate the overall consequences of one’s actions before taking a decision. The ‘noble’ lies of doctors and nurses again come first to mind. In reality, people often poorly estimate the consequences of their actions or specifically undervalue or ignore the harmful consequences to society. The line between a moral justification and an excuse for selfish behaviour is sometimes exceedingly thin. In this scenario, trust soon declines, cynicism spreads, relationships come apart and our overall quality of life drops. Sliding down this slope eventually leads to moral bankruptcy (e.g. stealing is justified because the person donates some of it to charity). Lies frequently assume lives of their own and result in consequences that people do not intend or fail to predict. We can soon develop a vested interest in lying – ‘believing’ that the world will be better off if we (continue to) lie.

Lies flourish in social uncertainty, when people no longer understand, or agree on, the rules governing their behaviour towards one another. Very few today may even view honesty or lying from an ethical perspective. However, lying has consequences beyond the people who are interacting when a lie is told, or false information provided. Lying is clearly related to deception, to deliberate miscommunication. Perversely, we have even mastered the art of self-deception – of convincing ourselves that our lying has been for the good of all concerned. If we broaden our definition of what a ‘lie’ may be, we come to see that lies are truly deep-seated in society today. Our clothing, make-up (including plastic surgeries) and ceremonies are ways of masking ourselves – a form of ‘doctoring’ how we appear.

Truth stands as our most absolute value - the glue that binds the rulebook. When the regard for truth breaks down or is even slightly weakened, doubts in all forms begin to surface. Our unwillingness to take ‘rightful’ actions or to make the ‘right’ changes in our lives makes us begin to lie to ourselves. And once we have lied and ‘benefited’, the genie is out. Lying becomes habitual…even for trivial benefits or goals. Let us also remember that lying creates inequality. By lying, we act as if there are two classes of humans: us, with the right to lie, and everyone else, who must be truthful to us so that we do not lose our way. By lying we dehumanise society - treating people as just the means to our end(s). Since none of us likes to be lied to or deceived, let us ensure that we truly stop lying.

Dr. Rajesh Bhola is President of Spastic Society of Gurgaon and is working for the cause of children with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities for more than 25 years. He can be contacted at rabhola@yahoo.com

I hate being lied to. Short of violence, it is the worst thing you can do to me. The reason that I hate lies is because, like you, I wish to navigate carefully through life, and to do so I must be able to calculate my true position. When you lie to me, you know your position but you have given me false data, which obscures mine. Lying is theft. When you lie to me about something that I take to be true, and as a result I invest my time, money or even my care, you have actually stolen these things from me, because you obtained them falsely.