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46-576: A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deceiving or misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying . A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar . Lies can be interpreted as deliberately false statements or misleading statements, though not all statements that are literally false are considered lies – metaphors , hyperboles , and other figurative rhetoric are not intended to mislead, while lies are explicitly meant for literal interpretation by their audience. Lies may also serve

92-564: A basic principle from which right and wrong can be developed. These are an adaptation of utilitarianism; an adaptation of John Rawls' theory; an argument from evolutionary theory; and a ' Sherlock Holmes ' approach. All four arguments converge on empathy , obligation and the ‘Help Principle’, which the book argues are kernels of a viable ethical system. According to Audrey Tang , King's philosophy advocates: "If spending one unit of your effort could help another person by two units, he detailed in his book, you should help." Part III defines

138-583: A bow, and to speak the Truth". He further notes that: "The most disgraceful thing in the world [the Persians] think, is to tell a lie; the next worst, to owe a debt: because, among other reasons, the debtor is obliged to tell lies." In Achaemenid Persia , the lie, drauga (in Avestan: druj ), is considered to be a cardinal sin and it was punishable by death in some extreme cases. Tablets discovered by archaeologists in

184-512: A dice roll test where participants could easily lie to get a bigger payout. The study found that in countries with high prevalence of rule breaking, dishonesty in people in their early 20s was more prevalent. Possession of the capacity to lie among non-humans has been asserted during language studies with great apes . In one instance, the gorilla Koko , when asked who tore a sink from the wall, pointed to one of her handlers and then laughed. Deceptive body language, such as feints that mislead as to

230-672: A lying person is regarded to have no shame, and therefore capable of many wrongs. Lying is not only to be avoided because it harms others, but also because it goes against the Buddhist ideal of finding the truth . The fourth precept includes avoidance of lying and harmful speech. Some modern Buddhist teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh interpret this to include avoiding spreading false news and uncertain information. Work that involves data manipulation, false advertising, or online scams can also be regarded as violations. Anthropologist Barend Terwiel  [ de ] reports that among Thai Buddhists,

276-439: A number of measures while giving statements or answering questions. Spikes in stress indicators are purported to reveal lying. The accuracy of this method is widely disputed. In several well-known cases, application of the technique has been shown to have given incorrect results. Nonetheless, it remains in use in many areas, primarily as a method for eliciting confessions or employment screening. The unreliability of polygraph results

322-445: A secular revision of Pascal’s Wager , arguing “What does it hurt to pursue value and virtue? If there is value, then we have everything to gain, but if there is none, then we haven’t lost anything.” Thus, it rationally makes sense for us to pursue something of value. It says that “people ultimately derive their choices from what they want to do and what other people want to do” It then presents four different arguments for deriving

368-485: A single part of the decision-making process: for example, in the actions we take (e.g. Kant ), in our character (e.g. Aristotle , virtue ethics ) or in the consequences of our actions (e.g. Utilitarianism ). Chapter four explains how ‘do whatever is best’ (utilitarianism) still dominates modern philosophical and economic thinking. Chapter five cites seven faults with utilitarianism. These are that it can be self-defeating; that it considers only future events and ignores

414-412: A variety of instrumental, interpersonal, or psychological functions for the individuals who use them. Generally, the term "lie" carries a negative connotation, and depending on the context a person who communicates a lie may be subject to social, legal, religious, or criminal sanctions; for instance, perjury , or the act of lying under oath , can result in criminal and civil charges being pressed against

460-555: Is "the Lie". Later on, the Lie became personified as Angra Mainyu , a figure similar to the Christian Devil , who was portrayed as the eternal opponent of Ahura Mazda (God). Herodotus , in his mid-fifth-century BC account of Persian residents of the Pontus , reports that Persian youths, from their fifth year to their twentieth year, were instructed in three things – "to ride a horse, to draw

506-409: Is a criminal offense ( perjury ). Hannah Arendt spoke about extraordinary cases in which an entire society is being lied to consistently. She said that the consequences of such lying are "not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On

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552-631: Is a talent human beings possess universally. The evolutionary theory proposed by Darwin states that only the fittest will survive and by lying, we aim to improve other's perception of our social image and status, capability, and desirability in general. Studies have shown that humans begin lying at a mere age of six months, through crying and laughing, to gain attention. Scientific studies have shown differences in forms of lying across gender. Although men and women lie at equal frequencies, men are more likely to lie in order to please themselves while women are more likely to lie to please others. The presumption

598-528: Is being lied to. To tell lies is to deny others access to reality, and the harm of lying often cannot be anticipated. The ones lied to may fail to solve problems they could have solved only on a basis of good information. To lie also harms oneself, making the liar distrust the person who is being lied to. Liars generally feel badly about their lies and sense a loss of sincerity, authenticity, and integrity. Harris asserts that honesty allows one to have deeper relationships and to bring all dysfunction in one's life to

644-508: Is immoral ( Num. 23:19, Hab. 2:3, Heb. 6:13–18). Nevertheless, there are examples of God deliberately causing enemies to become disorientated and confused, in order to provide victory ( 2 Thess. 2:11; 1 Kings 22:23; Ezek. 14:9). Various passages of the Bible feature exchanges that assert lying is immoral and wrong ( Prov. 6:16–19; Ps. 5:6), ( Lev. 19:11; Prov. 14:5; Prov. 30:6; Zeph. 3:13), ( Isa. 28:15; Dan. 11:27), most famously, in

690-414: Is not supported by research. A 2019 review of research on deception and its detection through nonverbal behavior concludes that people tend to overestimate both the reliability of nonverbal behavior as an indicator of deception, and their ability to make accurate judgements about deception based on nonverbal behavior. Polygraph " lie detector " machines measure the physiological stress a subject endures in

736-441: Is that humans are individuals living in a world of competition and strict social norms, where they are able to use lies and deception to enhance chances of survival and reproduction. Stereotypically speaking, David Livingstone Smith asserts that men like to exaggerate about their sexual expertise, but shy away from topics that degrade them while women understate their sexual expertise to make themselves more respectable and loyal in

782-449: Is the basis of the exclusion of such evaluations as admissible evidence in many courts, and the technique is generally perceived to be an example of pseudoscience . A recent study found that composing a lie takes longer than telling the truth and thus, the time taken to answer a question may be used as a method of lie detection. Instant answers with a lie may be proof of a prepared lie. A recommendation provided to resolve that contradiction

828-500: Is the condition where there is an excessive or abnormal propensity for lying and exaggerating. A recent study found that composing a lie takes longer than telling the truth. Or, as Chief Joseph succinctly put it, "It does not require many words to speak the truth." Some people who are not convincing liars truly believe they are. The Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible both contain statements that God cannot lie and that lying

874-503: Is to try to surprise the subject and find a midway answer, not too quick, nor too long. Utilitarian philosophers have supported lies that achieve good outcomes – white lies. In his 2008 book, How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time , Iain King suggested a credible rule on lying was possible, and he defined it as: "Deceive only if you can change behaviour in a way worth more than

920-613: The Ten Commandments : "Thou shalt not bear false witness" ( Ex. 20:2–17 ; Deut. 5:6–21 ); Ex. 23:1; Matt. 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20 a specific reference to perjury. Other passages feature descriptive (not prescriptive) exchanges where lying was committed in extreme circumstances involving life and death. Most Christian philosophers might argue that lying is never acceptable, but that even those who are righteous in God's eyes sin sometimes. Old Testament accounts of lying include: In

966-410: The only way to protect oneself is to lie, it is never ethically permissible to lie even in the face of murder, torture, or any other hardship. Each of these philosophers gave several arguments for the ethical basis against lying, all compatible with each other. Among the more important arguments are: In Lying , neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that lying is negative for the liar and the person who

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1012-692: The 1930s at the site of Persepolis give us adequate evidence about the love and veneration for the culture of truth during the Achaemenian period. These tablets contain the names of ordinary Persians, mainly traders and warehouse-keepers. According to Stanley Insler of Yale University , as many as 72 names of officials and petty clerks found on these tablets contain the word truth . Thus, says Insler, we have Artapana , protector of truth, Artakama , lover of truth, Artamanah , truth-minded, Artafarnah , possessing splendour of truth, Artazusta , delighting in truth, Artastuna , pillar of truth, Artafrida , prospering

1058-572: The Help Principle more carefully, with a section on autonomy , and a critique of the golden rule . It results in an approach to ethics which combines deontology, consequentialism and virtue ethics. This has been described as quasi-utilitarianism. Part IV attempts to distinguish white lies from bad lies. Contradicting Aristotle , who believed no general rule on lying was possible, 'For he who advocates lying can never be believed or trusted,' and St Augustine , who believed all lies were sinful,

1104-612: The New Testament, Jesus refers to the Devil as the father of lies ( John 8:44) and Paul commands Christians "Do not lie to one another" ( Col. 3:9; cf. Lev. 19:11). In the Day of Judgement, unrepentant liars will be punished in the lake of fire . ( Rev. 21:8; 21:27). Augustine of Hippo wrote two books about lying: On Lying ( De Mendacio ) and Against Lying ( Contra Mendacio ). He describes each book in his later work, Retractationes . Based on

1150-574: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 759872916 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:32:04 GMT How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time has forty chapters, which are grouped into six parts. For ethical advice to be credible,

1196-452: The book presents a definition of good lies, and argues why it is credible and superior. Chapters 28 and 29 reconcile individual human rights with group interests. Both individual justice and social justice feature. Part V deals with situations when information is not certain, and other real world problems which are absent from much academic philosophy. These problems make effective altruism impractical and rare. Chapter 34 argues that

1242-524: The book says it cannot be perceived as arbitrary. The book cites The Dice Man – a man who makes choices based on dice rolls – as an example of advice-following which is arbitrary and so cannot be regarded as ethical. Chapter three argues intuitions about what we should do can be more useful, but are undermined because our multiple intuitions often lead to contradictory advice (e.g. ‘help a stranger’ or ‘put family first’?). Philosophers have sought to eliminate these contradictions by locating right and wrong in

1288-590: The category of philosophy books in 2013. The book attempts to answer the Frege–Geach Problem , the Fact–Value Gap , and the Open-question argument , although the given answers have been challenged. The book has been used to reconcile utilitarian and rules-based ethics. Humanist psychologists have used the book to explain why only proven phenomena is needed to prove why morality exists, and what

1334-408: The consequences of our actions. Hence, ethics can never emulate the scientific revolution by offering a simple set of rules for every situation, similar to those derived by Newton. This is because Newton’s own rules can never be applied perfectly, because we can never know how the world really is. The book has a satirical title, and was published on 1 December 2008. It became a bestseller within

1380-509: The external communication of what one does not hold to be internally true, are categorically sinful and therefore, ethically impermissible. Augustine wrote that lies told in jest, or by someone who believes or opines the lie to be true are not, in fact, lies. The fourth of the five Buddhist precepts involves falsehood spoken or committed to by action. Avoiding other forms of wrong speech are also considered part of this precept, consisting of malicious speech, harsh speech, and gossip. A breach of

1426-414: The eyes of men and avoid being labelled as a ‘scarlet woman’. Those with Parkinson's disease show difficulties in deceiving others, difficulties that link to prefrontal hypometabolism. This suggests a link between the capacity for dishonesty and integrity of prefrontal functioning. Pseudologia fantastica is a term applied by psychiatrists to the behavior of habitual or compulsive lying. Mythomania

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1472-472: The fourth precept also is seen to be broken when people insinuate, exaggerate, or speak abusively or deceitfully. In Gestaþáttr , one of the sections within the Eddaic poem Hávamál , Odin states that it is advisable, when dealing with "a false foe who lies", to tell lies also. Zoroaster teaches that there are two powers in the universe; Asha , which is truth, order, and that which is real, and Druj , which

1518-416: The hearer may acquire a false belief (or at least something that the speaker believes to be false). When deception is unsuccessful, a lie may be discovered. The discovery of a lie may discredit other statements by the same speaker, thereby staining that speaker's reputation. In some circumstances, it may also negatively affect the social or legal standing of the speaker. Lying in a court of law, for instance,

1564-411: The intended direction of attack or flight, is observed in many species. A mother bird deceives when she pretends to have a broken wing to divert the attention of a perceived predator – including unwitting humans – from the eggs in her nest, instead to her, as she draws the predator away from the location of the nest, most notably a trait of the killdeer . It is asserted that the capacity to lie

1610-548: The location of De Mendacio in Retractationes , it appears to have been written about AD 395. The first work, On Lying , begins: "Magna quæstio est de Mendacio" ("There is a great question about Lying"). From his text, it can be derived that St. Augustine divided lies into eight categories, listed in order of descending severity: Despite distinguishing between lies according to their external severity, Augustine maintains in both treatises that all lies, defined precisely as

1656-402: The notion of integrity can only make sense in ethics if it is applied to the consequences people allow to happen rather than to people themselves. Part VI claims a hybrid system can be internally-consistent and address several problems of the main schools of ethics. Chapter 40 concludes it is impossible to make good decisions all the time because we can never know enough about the world, and

1702-403: The past; that it places decision-making authority in questionable hands; that it doesn’t discriminate fairly between people; that it sacrifices individual concerns to the group interest; that it down-grades promises, fairness and truth-telling; and that it doesn’t offer any clear rules. The chapter also argues that the main argument for utilitarianism is invalid, and ‘empty’. Part II starts with

1748-690: The perjurer. Although people in many cultures believe that deception can be detected by observing nonverbal behaviors (e.g. not making eye contact, fidgeting, stuttering, smiling) research indicates that people overestimate both the significance of such cues and their ability to make accurate judgements about deception. More generally, people's ability to make true judgments is affected by biases towards accepting incoming information and interpreting feelings as evidence of truth . People do not always check incoming assertions against their memory. The potential consequences of lying are manifold; some in particular are worth considering. Typically lies aim to deceive , so

1794-468: The powerful did I do wrong. The man who cooperated with my house, him I rewarded well; who so did injury, him I punished well." He asks Ahuramazda , God, to protect the country from "a (hostile) army, from famine, from the Lie". Darius had his hands full dealing with large-scale rebellion which broke out throughout the empire. After fighting successfully with nine traitors in a year, Darius records his battles against them for posterity and tells us how it

1840-400: The precept is considered more serious if the falsehood is motivated by an ulterior motive (rather than, for example, "a small white lie"). The accompanying virtue is being honest and dependable, and involves honesty in work, truthfulness to others, loyalty to superiors, and gratitude to benefactors. In Buddhist texts, this precept is considered most important next to the first precept, because

1886-463: The receiving end you get not only one lie – a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days – but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows." The question of whether lies can be detected reliably through nonverbal has been the subject of frequent study. While people in many cultures believe that deception can be indicated by behaviors such as looking away, fidgeting, or stammering, this

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1932-430: The son of Nabonidus. ... The Lie made them rebellious, so that these men deceived the people." Then advice to his son Xerxes , who is to succeed him as the great king: "Thou who shalt be king hereafter, protect yourself vigorously from the Lie; the man who shall be a lie-follower, him do thou punish well, if thus thou shall think. May my country be secure!" Deception Too Many Requests If you report this error to

1978-504: The surface. In Human, All Too Human , philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche suggested that those who refrain from lying may do so only because of the difficulty involved in maintaining lies. This is consistent with his general philosophy that divides (or ranks) people according to strength and ability; thus, some people tell the truth only out of weakness. A study was conducted by the University of Nottingham , released in 2016, which utilized

2024-591: The trust you would lose, were the deception discovered (whether the deception actually is exposed or not)." Stanford law professor Deborah L. Rhode articulated three rules she says ethicists generally agree distinguish "white lies" from harmful lies or cheating: Aristotle believed no general rule on lying was possible, because anyone who advocated lying could never be believed, he said. The philosophers St. Augustine , St. Thomas Aquinas , and Immanuel Kant , condemned all lying. According to all three, there are no circumstances in which, ethically, one may lie. Even if

2070-509: The truth, and Artahunara , having nobility of truth. It was Darius the Great who laid down the "ordinance of good regulations" during his reign. Darius' testimony about his constant battle against the Lie is found in the Behistun Inscription . He testifies: "I was not a lie-follower, I was not a doer of wrong ... According to righteousness I conducted myself. Neither to the weak or to

2116-552: Was the Lie that made them rebel against the empire. At the Behistun inscription, Darius says: "I smote them and took prisoner nine kings. One was Gaumata by name, a Magian; he lied; thus he said: I am Smerdis, the son of Cyrus ... One, Acina by name, an Elamite; he lied; thus he said: I am king in Elam ;... One, Nidintu-Bel by name, a Babylonian; he lied; thus he said: I am Nebuchadnezzar,

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