Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

1
Deception and Secrecy
2
What is a Lie?
Remember when I said I was going to be honest
with you, Jeff? That was a big, fat lie.
3
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?

4
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.

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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.
• He 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.

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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.

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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?

8
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.

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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.