Transcript What is a Lie? - WordPress.com

The Supreme
Moral Principle
Values, Self &
Knowledge: Lecture 4
The blissful next 3 hours
Kantian Ethics
 Categorical Imperative
 Prostitution
Morality of Lying
How do you tell
what is
right/wrong in a
specific situation?
Applied ethical theory
Applied Ethical Issues
Joining queues
 Abortion
 Eating meat
 The death penalty
 Causal sex
…

Applied Ethical
Theory:
The foundational
moral principle
Testing a theory
Theory
Hypothesis/
Prediction
Theory-neutral
Reflection
Compare
The Golden Rule
“Do unto others what
you want others to do
unto you.”
Consequentialism: Keys ideas
The morally right action is what
maximises good consequences.
What counts as good
consequences?
How to maximise good
consequences?
Reason & Duty
2 Kantian ideas

How should I
live?
– Moral worth of
actions

What are my
duties?
– Categorical
imperative
Duty & Inclination
Actions have moral
worth when done of
out duty, not due to
mere inclination
Not blindly following
desire, but rationally
choosing your action
Revelation @Hospital
I am caring for you
because I feel like
doing so.
 I am caring for you
although I didn’t feel
like doing.

– I acted out of my duty to
care for you.
More
praiseworthy?
2 Kantian ideas

How should I
live?
– Moral worth of
actions

What are my
duties?
– Categorical
imperative
2 Formulas
“… common human reason,
with this compass in hand,
knows very well how to
distinguish in every case what
is good and what is evil, what
conforms with duty or is
contrary to duty.”
Imperatives

Hypothetical Imperative
– Do this if you want that…
– Depends on what you want

Categorical Imperative
– Do this.
– Independent of what you want
The Categorical Imperative 1
“Act only on that
maxim whereby you
can at the same time
will that it should be
a universal law.”
Equality of persons:
No arbitrary privileges
The Universalisability Test
“It is wrong to act on any principle of
which it is true that,
if everyone accepted and acted upon this
principle, or everyone believed that it
was permissible to act upon it,
that would make it impossible for anyone
successfully to act upon it.”
Can it be universalised?
State the principle of action
 Consider what would happen
if everyone follows that
principle
 If it results in the
impossibility of following
that principle, then the
action is not universalisable.

Test of
unfair
privilege
Keeping promises
I wish to borrow $1000
from you.
 You ask that I promise
to return it.
 I consider promising
while intending to break
the promise

Universalisable?
Principle: Promise but intend to break it
If everyone promises but intends to
break her promise.
No one will believe promises anymore
Cannot be universalised
Application: False Promises
Kant:
“the universality of a law that
everyone . . . could promise
whatever he pleases with the
intention of not keeping it would
make the promise . . . impossible,
since no one would believe what
was promised him but would
laugh at all such expressions as
vain pretenses.”
Crafty liar
Principle: Making false promises only when not
under suspicion
What if everyone makes false promises only
when not under suspicion?
People will continue to believe promises
Can be universalised?
Humanity
Kant:
“I say that man, and in
general every rational
being, exists as an end in
himself, not merely as a
means for arbitrary use
by this or that will.”
The Categorical Imperative 2
Act in such a way that you
always treat humanity, whether
in your own person or in the
person of any other, never
simply as a means, but always
at the same time as an end.
Value & Respect
Intrinsic & Instrumental value
 Unconditional worth of
rational beings
 Grounds for unconditional
respect
 NOT: Liking or sympathy
How to respect?
What’s a
rational
being?
?
Kantian puzzles
Organ trading
Suicide
Prostitution
Systematic analysis
Is it wrong in itself?
No
Is it wrong because
of external
considerations?
No
Yes
Yes
Is it also wrong
because of external
considerations?
No
Yes
Is prostitution intrinsically immoral?
Assume
 Adults
 Informed consent
 No physical harm
 No extra-marital
complication
Prostitution
1.
2.
3.
Prostitution is demeaning
a person.
It is morally wrong to
demean a person.
Therefore, prostitution is
morally wrong.
1.
2.
3.
This is an X.
It is wrong
to X.
Therefore,
this is
wrong.
“Demeaning a person”
How does prostitution demean a person?
 The sexual organs of the prostitute is used
as a tool for someone else’s pleasure.

A person’s body should not be
treated as a tool.
Against human dignity
“To allow one’s person for [the sake of]
profit to be used by another for the
satisfaction of sexual desire, to make of
oneself an object of demand, is
to…make of oneself a thing on which
another satisfies his appetite, just as he
satisfies his hunger upon a steak.”
Immanuel Kant
Labourers
Paid to use their body to
achieve some goal.
 E.g. construction workers,
taxi-drivers, assembly-line
workers, etc

Is paid labour
demeaning?
Compare
Labourer
Prostitute
Use of body
Use of body
House
Sexual pleasure
Prostitution
1.
2.
3.
It is morally wrong to
demean a person.
Prostitution is demeaning
a person.
Therefore, prostitution is
morally wrong.
?
Means & Ends
Disrespectful
Inconsiderate
Unfair
Respectful
Considerate
Fair
Merely as a means
As a means
Would the formula allow everything as
long as it is done with the right attitude?
Kantian ideas: Summary

How should I
live?
– Moral worth of
actions

What are my
duties?
– Categorical
imperative
Categorical Imperative
Universalisability
Act only on that maxim
whereby you can at the
same time will that it
should be a universal law.
Humanity as an End
Act in such a way that you
always treat humanity,
whether in your own person
or in the person of any other,
never simply as a means, but
always at the same time as
an end.
Kantian Heaven
Good
Wills
Deserved
Happiness
Two approaches to moral principles
Utilitarians:
Kant:
The ideal
situation
Moral
Principles
Moral
Principles
The ideal
situation
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948)

We have a duty to respect the
rights of others (?)

“the Declaration was the first
global statement of what we now
take for granted - the inherent
dignity and equality of all human
beings."
Ban Ki-moon,
UN Secretary-General, 2008.
Universal
Declaration
of Human Rights
Article 1.
 All human beings are born free and
equal in dignity and rights. They are
endowed with reason and
conscience and should act towards
one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.
Article 3.
 Everyone has the right to life,
liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
 No one shall be held in slavery or
servitude; slavery and the slave
trade shall be prohibited in all their
forms.
Review
Kantian critique of
Utilitarianism
 Moral worth of actions

– Duty & inclination

Derivation of duties
– Categorical Imperative
– Universalisability, Humanity as
an End
Lies
Clinton on trial
Congressman:
“Did he lie to the American people
when he said ‘I never had sex with
that woman’”?
Clinton:
“I want to say one thing to the American
people. I want you to listen to me…I did
not have sexual relations with that
woman, Ms Lewinsky.”
What is a Lie?

Telling falsehoods?
– One may sincerely believe what
is actually false

Tentative definition
– Intentionally presenting as
truth what one believes is
falsehood
Upside down
“Since I am a Utilitarian, lying is wrong
when it doesn’t maximise utility.”
Utilitarianism
Wrongness of
Lying
???
Dinosaur theory
Fossils
The moral status of Lying
Lying is
always
wrong
Lying is
sometimes
wrong
When?
Lying is never
wrong
List of scenarios
Principle
Unity
“Lying is wrong on Monday,
but not wrong on Tuesday.”
Inconsistent
Same principle of
wrongness should
apply on Monday &
Tuesday
Overview of process
Current view
Abstraction
Distinction
Thought experiments
Abstraction
Why is Lying wrong?
Lie
#1
Lie
#2
Tentative
Principle
Lie
#3
Lie
#4
Thought
experiment
Lie
#5
Reflection
Lie
#N
Overview of process
Current view
Abstraction
Distinction
Thought experiments
The starting point

What’s a clear case where
lying is wrong?

What a clear case where
lying is not wrong?
Seeking progress

What’s your tentative principle?

3 more cases
Morale booster
Your friend is feeling
down
 You decide to cheer her
up with a compliment
 It works
 But you didn’t truly
believe what you said

Did you do
wrong?
Artful dodger

An acquaintance invites
you to his wedding

You don’t want to go

If you declined honestly,
he will be offended

You say: “Apologies but I
can’t make it due to a prior
engagement.”

It works
Artful dodger


But you could have
attended his wedding.
You think it is true in a
sense that you can’t
can’t attend his
wedding.
Did you lie?
Did you do
wrong?
Skilful bargain
You need to buy a car.
 But all car salespeople
often lie.
 During negotiating, you
engaged in deception.
 As a result, you saved
$5000.
 It seems you lied to the
salesman.

Did you do
wrong?
Lying as means to end

Lying is morally neutral in
itself

Whether it is wrong
depends on its
consequences

Need to take micro and
macro view of outcomes
Really good/bad?
Bok:
“the harmlessness of lies is
notoriously disputable. What the liar
perceives as harmless or even
beneficial may not be so in the eyes of
the deceived.


Lack of information
Fragile human nature
Levels of badness
Bok:
“the failure to look at an entire practice rather than
at their own isolated case often blinds liars to
cumulative harm and expanding deceptive
activities.”
Prescribe
placebo in
this case
X…
Doctors will
deceive when
they think it’s
good for you
Lying as means to end

Lying is morally neutral in
itself

Whether it is wrong
depends on its
consequences

Need to take micro and
macro view of outcomes
But why are we
uncomfortable
with lying itself?
Lying as disrespect of Truth

Truth as intrinsically
valuable
– Duty to pursue the truth
– Duty to not suppress it


Lying is a rejection of the
value of Truth
Leads to further
disrespect of Truth
Is Truth so
important?
Lying as disrespect for autonomy

When we lie, we prevent
our victim from making an
informed decision.

As an autonomous person,
she has the right to make
informed decisions.

She has this right even if
she may make bad
decisions.
But what if her
bad decision
affects others?
Answering the murderous



Nazi soldiers are searching for Jews to kill them.
They ask: “Are there Jews in your house?”
You are hiding a group of Jews.
“There are no
Jews here.”
“Yes, there
are.”
None will be
hurt.
The Jews will
be killed.
Truth for the worthy
“To tell the truth is therefore a
duty, but only to one who has a
right to the truth. But no one
has a right to a truth that
harms others.”
Limited respect for autonomy
Answering the murderous



Nazi soldiers are searching for Jews to kill them.
They ask: “Are there Jews in your house?”
You are hiding a group of Jews.
“There are no
Jews here.”
“Yes, there
are.”
None will be
hurt.
The Jews will
be killed.
“I saw them
going down
the street!”
Kantian escape
“As your Majesty’s
faithful subject, I shall in
the future completely
desist from all public
lectures or papers
concerning religion.”
Deceiving while respecting
Truth/Autonomy
Sandel:


Deceiving & Lying
Deceiving involves 2 motives
– Protecting the Jews
– Upholding duty to respect
Truth/Autonomy

Deception can be morally
permissible
Clinton on trial
Congressman:
“Did he lie to the American people
when he said ‘I never had sex with
that woman’”?
Clinton:
“I want to say one thing to the American
people. I want you to listen to me…I did
not have sexual relations with that
woman, Ms Lewinsky.”
What is a Lie?

Telling falsehoods?
– One may sincerely believe what
is actually false

Tentative definition
– Intentionally presenting as
truth what one believes is
falsehood
Review

What is Lying?
– Definition, types of Lies
Is Lying morally wrong?
 If it is, when?

– Consequences
– Disrespect for Truth
– Disrespect for Autonomy
Will you lie?