Comments on Morality is what we agree is best: Question 8

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Carpenter--

A lie is a lie, justification is not being responsible for presenting a lie.  Type 1, as you defined it, is not a lie when it is presented as "make believe" from the on set and it is a necessary attribute of human nature. It should never be presented as the Truth.   This is what children do with a thin line that most parents can discern.  If the child has a fear within that his form of make believe is unacceptable or going to cause him harm, then it isn't Type 1.  And as you concluded, if no one practiced Type 3, Type 2 and Type 4 would not exist.

Thanks for reading.

FR

posted by freerain on December 5, 2004 at 7:32 PM | link to this | reply

This question is a little too broad for a “yes or no” answer. There are four basic types of lies. Not all are bad…and some are very necessary.

There are four types of lies.

posted by justAcarpenter on December 5, 2004 at 6:37 PM | link to this | reply

freerain

I don't think very highly of lies, it's true. But in a way, we are lying almost every time we open our mouths. If you're driving your car to the store, how much of the time is your car pointed EXACTLY at the store. We take round-about paths to get where we need to be and I think good faith efforts are what we build on and for the rest, well, there is forgiveness.

posted by pappy on December 5, 2004 at 10:55 AM | link to this | reply

reading

Pappy today made me believe there is a universal consciousness, trying to get us to look at the deeper problems and come up with meaningful solutions.  Where does a "little white lie" end and major deceit begin?  To answer you, no, we shouldn't teach that Santa is real--neither should we teach that anyother unseeable, mythological, person is real--and history should not be taken for truth either, there is a great deal of subjectivity in history. After all, it is the conqueror who records it.

Thanks for the comment, David1Spirit

Peace,

FR

posted by freerain on December 3, 2004 at 8:10 PM | link to this | reply

That's a loaded question freerain

Those little "white" lies are probably OK. What you gonna tell a 4 year old, that Santa doesn't exist? 

I think we all know what real "lies" are! Are they morally wrong. I really don't think so. I have told a few fibs in my life.

posted by David1Spirit on December 3, 2004 at 6:50 PM | link to this | reply