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Deception and Secrecy. What is a Lie?. “Remember when I said I was going to be honest with you, Jeff? That was a big, fat lie.”. What is a Lie?. Sissela Bok: “A statement, believed by the liar to be false, made to another person with the intent to deceive .” “Truth” versus “falsity.”
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What is a Lie? “Remember when I said I was going to be honest with you, Jeff? That was a big, fat lie.”
What is a Lie? • Sissela Bok: “A statement, believed by the liar to be false, made to another person with the intent to deceive.” • “Truth” versus “falsity.” • The key ethical question: • Did you intend your statement to mislead another person?
Sissela Bok: A philosopher and ethicist, she was born in Sweden and is the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners: Gunnar Myrdal who won the Economics prize in 1974 and her mother, Alva Myrdal, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. She is married to Derek Bok, former president of Harvard. Her daughter, Hilary Bok, is also a philosopher.
Deception and Public Life: Machiavelli • “A successful, respected prince knows how to manipulate the minds of men with shrewdness.” • “A wise ruler, therefore, cannot and should not keep his word when such an observance of faith would be to his disadvantage and when the reasons which made him promise are removed.” • “[H]e who has known best how to use the fox has come to a better end. But it is necessary to know how to disguise this nature well and to be a great hypocrite and a liar. . .” • Deceit and the “whole truth.”
Deception and Public Life: Bok • Lying by rulers undermines accountability and trust in government in a democracy. • Two forms of deliberate assault on human beings: deceit and violence. Both coerce people into acting against their will. • Kantian notion that respect for humans requires not denying them relevant information and allowing them freedom of choice.
Honesty as a Pre-eminent Virtue of Public Officials • While there is a presumption against lying by public officials, there may be some legitimate justifications for deceiving the public. • When can lying by public officials be morally justified, when not?
Evaluation of Deception: Deceiver or Deceived? • Perspective of Deceived: • Manipulated, coerced, denied informed freedom of choice. • Lying requires a reason – truth telling does not! • Perspective of Deceiver: • Lying inevitable in public life, depends upon “wise use.” • Utilitarian calculation of deceiver often weighs only immediate harms to self versus “good” achieved. • Overlooks harm to liar/society: • lies accumulate -- “thatching of lies” -- become harder to reverse; affects political credibility (cf. Nixon/Clinton). • harm to general level of trust essential in a democratic society: • Lies only useful in circumstances where most people tell the truth. • Deceptive public officials “free ride” on system of trust. Want others to do their part, but refuse to accept their democratic obligation.
Criteria for Assessing Public Deception (Bok) • Principle of Veracity – Begin with positive worth of truthfulness/veracity for public officials. • Where a public lie is a possible choice, one has obligation to first seek for truthful alternative courses of action to resolve difficulty without lying. Only where lie is truly last resort can moral justification for lie be considered. • What is the context for the lie? Scope and severity of lie, relationship of deceiver and deceived, e.g., the public, an innocent individual, a political adversary? Consider a role reversal between deceiver and deceived (i.e., Golden Rule). • What are justifications for lie. Does the justification appeal to some legal/moral standard? • “Publicity test” What might a public of reasonable people say about the lie and your justification for it? A critical test for sustaining a democratic process.
