Lying

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/lying/lying_1.shtml

Its never nice to be lied to and when the victim of a lie, it's easy to feel aggrieved and that you have been made out to be a fool. I personally dislike lying very much. I feel it is horrible to mislead people, but I also feel there are times in life when lying is necessary to make people happy. As morally incorrect it may be, we do need lies sometimes to help ourselves out in life. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) disagreed with this and felt that all lies were wrong and a life full of liers would be a difficult world to live in.

The webpage I have researched from the BBC takes an in-depth look at lying and claims that a lie must have 3 features to it:

• - to communicate some information


• - intention by the liar to deceive or mislead


• - the liar having the knowledge that their lie is not true

I feel these are 3 good points to attribute to lying, particularly the last one which I feel is vital in seperating a lie from purely an error of judgement. A lie is definitely intended to always mislead, even if for a good reason and there is a definite exchange of information.

My opinion is more similar to that of St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas who although claim that lying is wrong, also realise that it is needed to get along in life and as Aquinas claims, can be pardonable if done for fun or helpful reasons. We lie when we tell children about Santa or the Tooth Fairy or when we tell someone they look great when they don't feel too good. We can also bring laughter into our lives by telling lies for the sake of a humerous joke, and as long as no harm is caused and the victim is told the truth soon enough then I don't feel there is too much harm in this. Whether we like it or not, we have all lied at some stage in our lives, therefore it can't be all that bad, can it?