A Philosophy of Lying

Lars Svendsen, Matt Bagguley

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781789145632
• eBook ISBN: 9781789145649
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

From lying to friends to lies in politics, a wide-ranging examination of the forms and ethics of falsehood. From popular philosopher Lars Svendsen, this book is a comprehensive investigation of lying in everyday life. What exactly is a lie, Svendsen asks, and how does lying differ from related phenomena, such as "bullshit" or being truthful? Svendsen also investigates the ethics of lying—why is lying almost always morally wrong, and why is lying to one's friends especially bad? The book concludes by looking at lying in politics, from Plato's theory of the "noble lie" to the Big Lie of Donald Trump. As phrases like "fake news" and "alternative facts" permeate our feeds, Svendsen's conclusion is perhaps a surprising one: that, even though we all occasionally lie, we are for the most part trustworthy. Trusting others makes one vulnerable, and we will all be duped from time to time. But all things considered, Svendsen contends, truthfulness and vulnerability are preferable to living in a constant state of distrust.

References

Introduction

1 Timothy R. Levine, Duped: Truth­Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception, Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press 2020, ch. 9.

2 For a good overview of the research, see Jörg Meibauer, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Lying, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2018.

3 For a short overview, see Bella M. Depaulo, ‘Lying in Social Psychology’, in Jörg Meibauer, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Lying, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2018.

ONE What Is Lying?

1 Arne Næss, ‘Truth’ as Conceived by Those Who Are Not Professional Philosophers, texts published by Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo Il. Hist.-Filos. Klass 1938 No. 4, Oslo: Jacob Dybwad 1938.

2 Aristotle, Metaphysics, trans. W. D. Ross, in The Complete Works of Aristotle II, Princeton, Princeton University Press 1985, 1011b25.

3 Bernard Williams, Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2002.

4 Immanuel Kant, ‘An Answer to the Question: “What is Enlightenment?”’, in Kant: Political Writings, trans. H. B. Nisbet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, p. 54.

5 Augustine, ‘Enchiridion’ and ‘De Mendacio’, in Kevin DeLapp and Jeremy Henkel, ed., Lying and Truthfulness, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company 2016, pp. 4–35.

6 Immanuel Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgement, trans. Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002, §53.

7 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, trans. G.E.M. Anscombe, Oxford: Blackwell: 1963, §249.

8 Ibid., §580.

9 George Orwell, ‘Politics and the English Language’, Horizon, 76/1946.

10 George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty­Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg 1949.

11 Harry Frankfurt, ‘On Bullshit’, in The Importance of What We Care About, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1988, p. 130.

TWO The Ethics of Lying

1 Sissela Bok, Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, New York: Vintage Books 1979.

2 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. W. D. Ross, The Complete Works of Aristotle II, Princeton, Princeton University Press 1985, 1011b25, 1127a30.

3 Ibid., 1127a27.

4 Ibid., 1127b4–8.

5 Aristotle, Rhetoric, trans. W. Rhys Roberts, in The Complete Works of Aristotle II, Princeton, Princeton University Press 1985, 1417b36–1418a1.

6 Hugo Grotius, The Law of War and Peace, trans. Francis W. Kelsey, in Kevin DeLapp and Jeremy Henkel, ed., Lying and Truthfulness, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company 2016, pp. 38–52.

7 Blaise Pascal, The Provincial Letters, trans. A. J. Krailsheimer, London: Penguin Books 1988, 9th letter, p. 140f.

8 Augustine, Enchiridion and De mendacio, pp. 4–35.

9 Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, in Kevin DeLapp and Jeremy Henkel, ed., Lying and Truthfulness, Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company 2016, pp. 158–84.

10 Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Mary Gregor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011, p. 402.

11 Immanuel Kant, Anthropology From a Pragmatic Point of View, trans. Mary J. Gregor, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff 1974, §14. Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Mary Gregor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, p. 431.

12 Immanuel Kant, Lectures on Ethics, trans. Peter Heath, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997, p. 700.

13 Kant, Lectures on Ethics, p. 62.

14 Kant, Anthropology From a Pragmatic Point of View, p. 332.

15 Kant, Lectures on Ethics, p. 446ff.

16 Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, p. 429. Kant, Lectures on Ethics, pp. 604f., 700.

17 Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, p. 429.

18 Ibid., p. 426.

19 Immanuel Kant, ‘Über ein vermeintes Recht aus Menschenliebe zu lügen’, in Kants gesammelte Schriften, vol. viii, Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, ed. de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1902–, p. 426.

20 Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, p. 421.

21 Ibid., p. 429.

22 Baruch Spinoza, The Ethics and Selected Letters, trans. Seymour Feldman, Indianapolis: Hackett 1982, E4p72, p. 195.

23 Kant, ‘Über ein vermeintes Recht ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• ONE: What Is Lying?
• TWO: The Ethics of Lying
• THREE: Lying to Yourself
• FOUR: Lies and Friendship
• FIVE: The Politics of Lying
• SIX: Living with Lying
• REFERENCES
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INDEX