Review of 'Lying' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
A catalog of the various excuses people make for speaking deceptively, and an ethical examination of these reasons.
Bok thinks that there are some good excuses for lying, but that in general people tend to be far too willing to justify lies and that the various reasons they give -- while they may be superficially appealing -- typically don't stand up to scrutiny.
For one thing, justifications for lies tend to be from the liar's point of view, whereas a good justification for deception ought to also be valid from the point of view of the person being lied to.
For another, even the more sophisticated ethical defenses of lying tend to only look at the isolated instance of the particular lie and its effect on the person or persons being directly deceived. Bok believes we need to also take into account the effects of the lie on the character …
A catalog of the various excuses people make for speaking deceptively, and an ethical examination of these reasons.
Bok thinks that there are some good excuses for lying, but that in general people tend to be far too willing to justify lies and that the various reasons they give -- while they may be superficially appealing -- typically don't stand up to scrutiny.
For one thing, justifications for lies tend to be from the liar's point of view, whereas a good justification for deception ought to also be valid from the point of view of the person being lied to.
For another, even the more sophisticated ethical defenses of lying tend to only look at the isolated instance of the particular lie and its effect on the person or persons being directly deceived. Bok believes we need to also take into account the effects of the lie on the character of the liar, on the culture of communication and trust, and on by-standers.