General Septem
11-01-2006, 03:19 AM
In this thread I am going to pose two questions pertaining to the moral field of honesty.
Situation 1
Imagine one is being asked to do something that will inevitably be a pain-in-the-ass. Suppose it is a meeting, or a family get-together with annoying relatives. You use the excuse "I cannot attend because I will be spending time with out-of-town friends." You then proceed to spend the time you would have otherwise spent at this meeting, talking to people online instead.
It's not technically a lie, is it? No, it is not, because, assuming these online friends do not live in your town, every word of the sentence is 100% true, the only exception being the possible philosophical question as to whether or not simply talking with someone qualifies as "spending time with them". Nevertheless, I believe we can all agree that from some people's perspective, it does qualify.
Now, some might argue that the wording of the excuse makes it sound as if special preparations have been made for one to get together with these out-of-town friends, and that it isn't something one spends every waking moment doing anyway.
I beg to differ. As pointed out, the statement itself is true. The assumtion that this isn't something one spends every waking moment stems from a misunderstanding on the part of the one who requested one's presence at the meeting.
Now, supposing the "meeting" was something a little less mundane. Suppose one is a surgeon and is being called in to perform an emergency surgery on a patient. The surgeon makes the same excuse, and the patient dies. Surely I would consider this wrong, would you ask? The answer is yes, I do consider it wrong, but the wrong is in failing to help the patient, not in the excuse itself.
Discuss.
Situation 2
The so-called "lie by omission". I can't think of an example, but my question is, is it really possible to lie by not saying something? I submit that it is not. It is merely the error of the questioner that he did not specifically ask all questions he wanted answered.
So is it wrong, then, if someone notices a bomb rigged to a building and doesn't tell anyone? Yes. Is it a lie? No, his wrong would be in not preventing a major disaster that he could very easily have done something to prevent, not in some kind of deception or lie.
Discuss.
:D
Situation 1
Imagine one is being asked to do something that will inevitably be a pain-in-the-ass. Suppose it is a meeting, or a family get-together with annoying relatives. You use the excuse "I cannot attend because I will be spending time with out-of-town friends." You then proceed to spend the time you would have otherwise spent at this meeting, talking to people online instead.
It's not technically a lie, is it? No, it is not, because, assuming these online friends do not live in your town, every word of the sentence is 100% true, the only exception being the possible philosophical question as to whether or not simply talking with someone qualifies as "spending time with them". Nevertheless, I believe we can all agree that from some people's perspective, it does qualify.
Now, some might argue that the wording of the excuse makes it sound as if special preparations have been made for one to get together with these out-of-town friends, and that it isn't something one spends every waking moment doing anyway.
I beg to differ. As pointed out, the statement itself is true. The assumtion that this isn't something one spends every waking moment stems from a misunderstanding on the part of the one who requested one's presence at the meeting.
Now, supposing the "meeting" was something a little less mundane. Suppose one is a surgeon and is being called in to perform an emergency surgery on a patient. The surgeon makes the same excuse, and the patient dies. Surely I would consider this wrong, would you ask? The answer is yes, I do consider it wrong, but the wrong is in failing to help the patient, not in the excuse itself.
Discuss.
Situation 2
The so-called "lie by omission". I can't think of an example, but my question is, is it really possible to lie by not saying something? I submit that it is not. It is merely the error of the questioner that he did not specifically ask all questions he wanted answered.
So is it wrong, then, if someone notices a bomb rigged to a building and doesn't tell anyone? Yes. Is it a lie? No, his wrong would be in not preventing a major disaster that he could very easily have done something to prevent, not in some kind of deception or lie.
Discuss.
:D