ethics paper #3- 4-16-14
DESCRIPTION
Intro to Ethics Paper on Reasoning to LieTRANSCRIPT
Joshua WarnerCharles OliverPH 105:01 Introduction to Ethics4/14/14Second Writing Assignment
No Reason to Lie
Under no circumstance can or will lying ever be the cure to anyone's problems if
their end goal is to, inevitably, be a morally just person. You should always tell the truth
for your own righteousness and for the righteousness of all of your peers. Having an
open conscience as well as being able to collectively communicate your thoughts will
help to suppress the idea that lying can solve a bigger problem at hand because lying
is, essentially, not facing the problem. Lying is merely just creating another problem to
avoid the last. And then the question becomes, if you create another problem to hide
the first problem, are you solving any of the problems? No! The fact is, lying will never
do you good. These scenarios begin to get complicated when it comes to the life or
death of a hopeless human being but, I firmly believe, two wrongs will never make any
party right. So, just because there are people doing the wrong thing does not mean that
you should ever do another wrong thing in order to pretend the first wrong thing never
happened. No matter the situation, lying just creates more issues when the bigger
problem at hand should be tackled.
Let's take this rationalization and apply it to the television production of
Decalogue VIII. Though I believe that this piece faces much larger issues such as
breaking promises and making promises that you may not be able to keep, it effectively
Joshua Warner 1/3
puts forth a scenario in which lying may seem to be seen as justified. Essentially, Zofia
and her Christian husband deny a young Jewish Elzbieta into their home during the
Holocaust. This is with the knowledge that they have already assured her family they
will take care of her and that if she does not go in, she will probably stay out to die.
Although I see this has an issue dealing with promises and why you shouldn't make
them, I see that this is an example of why you should never lie. We're lucky to see that
all are still living when this memoir occurs but let's look at it as if the Christian family lets
Elzbieta in. From Zofia's side, the repercussions will be much worse- what if Elzbieta is
a spy and then Zofia and her husband's lives are on the line? In addition, Zofia would
have to live with the knowledge that she has lied to the patrolling officers. Having these
problems lurk through Zofia and all the people she interacts with all her life are much
more demonizing than if she just does the truthful thing and does not lie about anyone's
religion. But here's where the problem of promises and trust lay- you must never make
a promise that you can't keep; especially when it's a promise to lie. Promises assure
both parties that one will do whatever is needed in order to make the outcome happen.
This is why we shouldn't promise if we can't keep it but if we do, I think you need to
accept the agreement and do what is needed to be done, even if that means lying. But
again, this is why you don't make promises that you can't keep.
I know what you're thinking- what if you cannot tackle the larger issue head on
and you feel the only way to make anything better is to lie your way through life? If the
larger issue at hand, like in our instance being the Holocaust, I feel you must do what is
right for yourself. This is not being selfish but being sensitive that the power is now out
of your hands. In smaller issues, tackling them head on is always the best option to
Joshua Warner 2/3
ease the problem as well as keep yourself healthy. In the end, lying creates more
problems for yourself. More problems for yourself equal more problems for everyone
around you. In order to live an ethically, morally just life, you need yourself to be happy
as well as you want the people around you to be happy.
Kant would believe with my theory saying that adding unnatural gestures to your
life is a downfall. He believes we should do everything for how we feel we should do
them and lying is not a natural or a 'feel good duty'. For a person who lies a lot, they
keep a lot on their mind. They obviously know that lying is bad and 'causes more
problems, so all of these problems and poor judgements will linger on their mind. Not
having a clear conscience is dangerous to yourself and your peers. Because of all of
these reasons and more, lying just makes many more issues to your problem than you
need.
Joshua Warner 3/3