Thursday, November 12th 2009
LINDSAY JOLIVET
INSIDEOUT EDITOR
“After prolonged research on myself, I brought out the fundamental duplicity of the human being. Then I realized that modesty helped me to shine, humility to conquer, and virtue to oppress.” –Camus, The Fall
Camus’ words revealed the complexity of honesty and dishonesty, virtue and vice. Through his observation that moral behaviour can cause damage, he implied the potential of immoral behaviour to prevent that damage. I’m talking about lying, that baffling concept with the power to destroy relationships and restore egos.
The quote above, among others, introduces Sissela Bok’s Lying, a course text for Ethical Issues in Communication. Bok’s text shows us that dishonesty can become a complex moral issue. For example, the first lines of the book ask, “Should physicians lie to dying patients so as to delay the fear and anxiety which the truth might bring them? Should professors exaggerate the excellence of their students on recommendations in order to give them a better chance in a tight job market? Should parents conceal from children the fact that they were adopted?”
These are difficult questions, which reveal the potential of lies to bring comfort, confidence and closeness, however false they may be. The familiar proverb “honesty is the best policy” may not be as simple as it seemed when we were told to believe it as children.
Research indicates that most people lie; however, the Professor of Ethics in Communication, Dr. Violetta Igneski, is not concerned about empirical research. “In my class, I aim to teach students ways of reasoning through difficult situations and ways of weighing various reasons and ordering different beliefs and values they hold, rather than teaching them facts about lying,” she explained.
Dr. Igneski is interested in moments when it is good or right to lie, if it is ever right.
Motivation informs whether a lie is justifiable. We are all familiar with little white lies that protect others’ self-esteem. Altruistic lies protect those being lied to from painful or difficult truths. Dr. Igneski listed questions individuals can ask to determine whether lies are justifiable. “Would it really protect the individual being lied to? Would it really bring about the best consequences? Are they really doing it for altruistic reasons, or is there an underlying personal benefit?”
Convincing yourself that your motives for lying are selfless when they are not is common, but problematic. “It’s important for people to look at the big picture,” stated Dr. Igneski, “Before one is able to figure out if it justifiable to lie in the situation, they have to consider all of the effects and whether or not they would want to be treated in this same way.”
From a broader societal perspective, many have argued that lies are beneficial, even necessary, to maintain balance in a world of chaos. Nietzsche, for example, stated, “There is only one world, and that world is false, cruel, contradictory, misleading, senseless…We need lies to vanquish this reality, this “truth,” we need lies in order to live.” Bok presented this example in her text as a confusion of the many unintentional or blameless deceptions in life and deliberate lying. She argued that we must distinguish between the intentional deceit of others and other factors that influence human experience to determine whether it is possible for people to be entirely truthful.
Although, the recent film The Invention of Lying, directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson took a stance similar to Nietzsche. The film presented a world in which no one could lie and the characters were constantly miserable under the weight of painful truth. Then Gervais’ character invented lying, with it creating a skeleton version of Christianity and a sense of hope that people simply did not have in their world of perfect honesty. Gervais’ did, however, admit his lie at the end of the film. Interestingly, he revoked his lies for the sake of a personal relationship.
Lying is frequently a problem in relationships, romantic or not, and altruism is not always a sufficient justification for the person being lied to. “I think at the centre of any (close) relationship is respect and trust. You would have to ask yourself if you feel like you are being respected by a person who is deceiving you (for good or bad ends),” Dr. Igneski stated.
Trust is built on honesty, which means lying can be a damaging force. “We couldn’t engage in the most simple or basic relationships with others if we couldn’t trust that they were telling us the truth. Think of a simple example of stopping a stranger to ask for directions. All of our interactions and communications with others rest on an assumption that they are generally being truthful.”
However, Igneski maintained that there are certainly benefits to lying. She gave the example of telling me I was the best journalist she had ever read and as a result, giving me the confidence to continue writing. While this is a positive outcome, she cautioned against missing more subtle implications of lies like this. Can I trust anything else she tells me? If I believe her and choose writing over another pursuit, would she be responsible for misleading me? She also added, “Is it up to me to decide what you would want to hear or what is best for you? Isn’t this too paternalistic?”
Her provoking questions return to the issue of whether or not any lie is completely harmless in the grand scheme of things, which she also addressed. She gave other examples, such as “how you would feel about your colleagues, friends, parents, professors or perhaps the government withholding information or straightforwardly lying about some important fact because they deem it in your best interest.” To this, Dr. Igneski added another provoking question: “Does it matter if there is a benefit to it?”
Despite its pervasiveness, Dr. Igneski does not believe lying is an unavoidable part of the human condition. “However,” she stated, “it would be extremely difficult to avoid.” People lie to protect themselves and others, sometimes with damaging effects. Nonetheless, Dr. Igneski felt it was important to try to avoid lying.
“I think it would be an unrealistic goal for someone to say they will never lie; however, it would be realistic for someone to say that they will more seriously consider the perspective of the person being lied to, the long-term consequences to their relationships and to society more generally.”
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Nice article.
It’s hard to admit, but there is no place for telling the truth in the world we live in today. It’s a world obsessed in the pursuit of perfection and if we tell the truth, we’d be turning that pursuit in the other direction. Nobody wants to be told how normal they are. Lies are our only protection against the self-actualization of brokenness.