Transcript Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Deception and Secrecy
What is a Lie?
“Remember when I said I was going to be honest
with you, Jeff? That was a big, fat lie.”
What is a Lie?
• Sissela Bok: “A statement, believed by the liar
to be false, made to another person with the
intent to deceive.”
• “Truth” versus “falsity.”
• The key ethical question:
– Did you intend your statement to mislead another
person?
Sissela Bok:
A philosopher and ethicist, she
was born in Sweden and is the
daughter of two Nobel Prize
winners: Gunnar Myrdal who
won the Economics prize in 1974
and her mother, Alva Myrdal,
who won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1982. She is married to Derek
Bok, former president of Harvard.
Her daughter, Hilary Bok, is also
a philosopher.
Deception and Public Life:
Machiavelli
• “A successful, respected prince knows how to
manipulate the minds of men with shrewdness.”
• “A wise ruler, therefore, cannot and should not keep his
word when such an observance of faith would be to his
disadvantage and when the reasons which made him
promise are removed.”
• “[H]e who has known best how to use the fox has come
to a better end. But it is necessary to know how to
disguise this nature well and to be a great hypocrite and
a liar. . .”
• Deceit and the “whole truth.”
Deception and Public Life: Bok
• Lying by rulers undermines accountability and
trust in government in a democracy.
• Two forms of deliberate assault on human
beings: deceit and violence. Both coerce
people into acting against their will.
• Kantian notion that respect for humans requires
not denying them relevant information and
allowing them freedom of choice.
Honesty as a Pre-eminent Virtue of
Public Officials
• While there is a presumption against lying
by public officials, there may be some
legitimate justifications for deceiving the
public.
• When can lying by public officials be
morally justified, when not?
Evaluation of Deception:
Deceiver or Deceived?
•
Perspective of Deceived:
–
–
•
Manipulated, coerced, denied informed freedom of choice.
Lying requires a reason – truth telling does not!
Perspective of Deceiver:
–
–
Lying inevitable in public life, depends upon “wise use.”
Utilitarian calculation of deceiver often weighs only immediate
harms to self versus “good” achieved.
Overlooks harm to liar/society:
–
•
•
lies accumulate -- “thatching of lies” -- become harder to reverse;
affects political credibility (cf. Nixon/Clinton).
harm to general level of trust essential in a democratic society:
–
–
Lies only useful in circumstances where most people tell the truth.
Deceptive public officials “free ride” on system of trust. Want others
to do their part, but refuse to accept their democratic obligation.
Criteria for Assessing Public Deception (Bok)
• Principle of Veracity – Begin with positive worth of
truthfulness/veracity for public officials.
• Where a public lie is a possible choice, one has obligation to first
seek for truthful alternative courses of action to resolve difficulty
without lying. Only where lie is truly last resort can moral
justification for lie be considered.
• What is the context for the lie? Scope and severity of lie,
relationship of deceiver and deceived, e.g., the public, an innocent
individual, a political adversary? Consider a role reversal between
deceiver and deceived (i.e., Golden Rule).
• What are justifications for lie. Does the justification appeal to some
legal/moral standard?
• “Publicity test” What might a public of reasonable people say about
the lie and your justification for it? A critical test for sustaining a
democratic process.