The Ethics Of The Truth

11 Pages 2650 Words

her may regard it as simple a way of life.
Everyone has told a lie at one point or another. In a study done by psychology professor Bella DePaulo at The University of Virginia in Charlottesville 77 students and 70 townspeople kept diaries recording the numbers and details of all the lies they told in the period of a week. One student and six townspeople claimed to have told no lies, the other 140 participants told 1535 combined. Most of these lies were innocent lies that caused “little preoccupation or deceit.” According to DePaulo, women usually lied to other women to protect each others feelings while men lied to other men usually for reasons of self-promotion. In a survey by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in 1998, 20,000 middle and high school students were questioned about their lying practices. Ninety-two percent admitted to lying to their parents in the past year, and 73 percent classified themselves as “serial liars”, having told lies weekly. (Fitzgerald 81) Despite these lying personalities, a whopping 91 percent were satisfied with their ethical characters. “Nice lies” are harmless, and well intended, necessary for many social interactions, but we should keep in mind a quote from Sir Walter Scott, “What a web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” (Fitzgerald 82) By this he meant that often times one lie leads to another to support it. Josephson recommends that one uses a simple test to decide when it is acceptable to tell a lie. “If someone you lie to finds out the truth, will he thank you for caring? Or will he feel his long-term trust in you has been undermined?” (Fitzgerald 83) This test can be used in all situations. When we think that we are doing something to help a friend, we may actually be hurting them in the long-run.
Everyone has heard lies to children such as: “Babies come from watermelon seeds, if you swallow one it will grow into a baby in your stomach.” and �...